A Light in the Dark
by Melira
Summary: When Master Bruce decides on taking an orphaned circus boy in, both his life and his butler's change a lot. Robin origin story from Alfred's POV, no action but a lot of fluff.
1. Chapter 1

_Soooo, my first own story, I finally managed! :-D I hope you're gonna like it. But first things first:_  
 _1\. Disclaimer - I don't own any of this.  
2\. English is not my mothertongue so please don't judge too hard. I know I didn't quite get Alfred's way of talking right, I knew it from the beginning, but I really wanted to write this story from his POV so I just decided to do it anyways. If it bothers you too much... I'm sorry, I did my best. Just skip the story and read something better. And before someone suggests a Beta: There would probably be so much to correct, it wouldn't be my writing anymore, afterwards. Furtherone: If you find major mistakes, PM about them - I won't be mad at you but thankful. I can't get better if no one corrects me. 3. I'm not entirely happy with the style of this first chapter. So if you're neither, please keep reading at least until the second one, it gets better there, I think.  
4\. Have a lot of fun reading :-)_

Sometimes, the old butler wondered what it looked like, in the other man's head. It had to be dark in there. Darker than in other's. And he wondered how the man could stand it, all the anger and the righteousness. How he managed to not just break down someday and never get up again. He didn't seem to ever enjoy his life. He only pretended to, on all those parties and galas, with some young woman at his side. When he appeared to be someone he never was and never would be. Some rich playboy without a care in the world who somehow managed to run the biggest company on the whole east coast. Bruce Wayne. But for real, he was Batman, the Dark Knight. The one who browsed Gotham at night and ensured as much peace as this city was ever going to get.

But to Alfred, it had always been Master Bruce, since he first got to know him, when the younger one was just a four year old boy. So much had changed since then, more than anyone could ever have anticipated. And so much more was still bound to happen.

It was an evening like many others. Master Bruce was upstairs in his bedroom, getting dressed for tonight's event and Alfred waited in the entrance hall to check on his master before he left. A traveling circus resided in the city and the famous Bruce Wayne had to make an appearance. Usually, his employer hated these events, but not the circus. There, he didn't need to talk to anyone and in addition he could try to learn something useful from the acrobats tricks. Especially the trapeze artists intrigued him for what they did resembled his own stunts so much. More than once he had come home after a visit there only to head directly for the gym and try out something he had just seen.

For tonight, the bills announced the „Flying Graysons", a family of three who were the admitted best trapeze artists in the world. Accordingly Master Bruce was hopeful to gain something other from the evening than just the headache, all the other rich people usually gave him.

When he came down the stairs, he had a light smile on his face. Nothing you saw often on him. Alfred brushed his employer's tux one last time, making sure he looked decent and helped him into his coat.

„I wish you an enjoyable evening, Master Bruce."

„Thank you, Alfred! Don't wait for me, maybe it's going to be late." He knew, the butler always stayed up when Bruce attended some social event, but he told him not to every time anyways.

Alfred turned around and opened the majestic front door, looking after Master Bruce when he left the building and walked over to where one of his cars was already waiting for him.

It was three hours later that Alfred heard a car pull up the driveway. He got up from the armchair he had been sitting in and moved to the entrance hall once again. When he opened the door, he expected to find Master Bruce in a relatively good mood.

„Good evening, sir. Did the performance meet your expectations?"

„Only partly", his employer answered, a hard expression on his face. He seemed to strain himself not to show any emotion and with any other person it probably would have worked, but Alfred knew him too well. He could tell when something was the matter with Master Bruce and right now, he was upset. But the butler didn't say anything, if the younger man wanted to talk, he would do so on his own.

Master Bruce took off his coat, gave it to the butler and stormed off to his study. At this time of night, it could only mean he was headed for the Batcave. Although Alfred couldn't explain why. Normally, Master Bruce didn't go on patrol after social events unless there was an ongoing crisis or a sudden emergency. And of both he would have told his butler.

In slight worry, Alfred went after him. But when he reached the grandfather clock hiding the entrance to the cave and got down there, the man was already gone.

The butler didn't even try to get to bed, he knew he wouldn't be able to go to sleep until the Batman was home again, hopefully unharmed. Alfred went up to his room, always listening if something came over the speaker system which connected the whole manor with the cave beneath it. But nothing happened.

Usually, Alfred managed to push aside all thoughts of what could possibly happen to the man he had practically adopted after Dr. and Mrs. Waynes death. The man he had raised and who he saw as his ward. But tonight, his mind refused to rest and came up with one horrible scenario after another. Maybe it was, because Master Bruce had seemed so upset. Normally, he was in full control of himself and you could trust him to be absolutely concentrated at all times. That made it easier not to worry too much. But if he was in a state like the one tonight… Alfred just couldn't be sure that his employer wouldn't get himself killed only because he lacked the constant attention necessary to fight criminals.

After a few hours of restlessly walking up and down in his quarters, he gave up and decided to prepare breakfast for when Master Bruce got back. After finishing the toast and egg he went to get the newspapers. When he took a look at the front page, everything became clear to him. Suddenly, he understood why Master Bruce had acted the way he had, last night. The headline said: **"The Graysons last flight"** and beneath it: "Circus kid has to watch his parents die". So this was what had happened last night. No wonder, his employer had been so upset. He hadn't only seen people fall to their deaths – he was used to sudden violence after all – but he got reminded of his own past. He had been only a child when he witnessed his parents get shot and he never fully got over that trauma. So in addition to the brutal reminder he probably had felt compassion for the child, who, according to the article, had been part of the fatal circus act and was only inches away, when the trapeze rope tore and his mother and father fell eight meters straight onto the hard floor. The article read further that police investigations were under way but no one expected it to be foul play.  
While walking back to the kitchen, newspapers in hand, Alfred debated whether to confront Master Bruce about all this or not as soon as the man got back home. Right when he had decided to speak about it, he encountered the object of his thoughts in the hallway. Apparently, he had returned mere minutes ago.

The muscular man wore a shirt which left his arms bare and a nasty cut could be seen above his left elbow. Further on, his left wrist seemed to be sprained. So the butler's worries hadn't been unfounded, things had gone wrong on this night's patrol.

„Master Bruce!", the worry in his voice was clearly audible. „What happened?" He knew, the injury wasn't severe enough to justify his seriousness, but the circumstances changed his view on the situation.

„Nothing", came the gruff answer. The butler would have liked to keep asking but it wouldn't have done any good. If Master Bruce didn't want to talk, nothing could make him. Not even Alfred, although he had more influence on the man than anyone else had ever had, except only his parents.

„Well then. Breakfast is ready, if you may follow me."

Neither said a word while walking back to the kitchen. The younger man seemed lost in thought and barely reacted to Alfred pulling a chair out for him. Bruce sat down at one end of the table and the butler placed the newspaper beside his plate, trying to provoke the man to talk about what had happened last night. It didn't work.

When Alfred served the toast, his employer didn't even look up. He had his head buried in the „Gotham Gazette", reading the article about the Graysons deaths. At one point he made a small, disapproving noise.

„Don't you agree with the news, sir?" Alfred made one last attempt to get the other man talking. When he earned nothing but an indistinct grunt, he decided to finally give it a rest and just wait. He put the rest of the prepared food on the table and left the kitchen. He could tell when Master Bruce wanted to be left alone and he respected that wish.

Alfred didn't see much of his employer that day and the following week. In fact, he saw a lot less of him than usual which meant quite something, considering Bruce Wayne regularly being at his company during day hours and protecting Gotham as Batman at night. But now, he kept to himself even when at home and hardly talked when they met in the hallways or at mealtimes. Something seemed to be on the man's mind, something serious, and Alfred couldn't stop worrying about what it was. Anything that made Bruce Wayne even more brooding than normal had to be bad.

After four days of silence, the old butler had enough. In the evening, just before Master Bruce left for the cave, he walked up on him, determined to finally make him talk.

„Sir." The younger man looked up from his desk at which he had been staring. „I was bound to notice the change in you behaviour lately. Is something the matter?" Sometimes, his British politeness just didn't work anymore, so he had to use more drastic measures although he didn't like being this direct. Far too inelegant for his taste.

„No, nothing." Such a short answer again. He was getting angry and it showed. His eyebrows narrowed the tiniest bit.

„Master Bruce, I'm sure whatever happened isn't as bad as it may seem to you at the moment. Perhaps I'm able to help if you just tell me…"

„Alfred!" The interruption was made in such a harsh tone, the old butler almost flinched. Only years of training enabled him to stay expressionless. Hardly ever before had his employer used an actually threatening voice on him. „I am fine and I hereby ask you to stop fussing over me. If you could leave me now. Please." The last word came after a short pause and sounded less angry. Almost pleading. Which made Alfred worry even more, but what choice did he have?

Wordless, he bowed his head slightly, turned and left the room. He could hear a movement, followed by the sound of a head being laid into hands. He could practically see the exhausted gesture his ward made. He wanted to be there for the man. It was not just his job, but his duty, his life task. Had been for so many years now. Not knowing what bothered Master Bruce and thereby not being able to help him made him feel useless. And there was nothing worse for a butler.

The days passed and his employer kept being to himself. But he changed from sitting in his study all the time to walking the halls, every now and then opening a door and peeking into one of the unused rooms. It got even more peculiar, when he started making a lot of phonecalls. All behind closed doors and about four times as many as normal. Usually, he tried finishing this part of his job at the office downtown. Even Alfred, who didn't think of himself as an inquisitive person, had growing difficulties not to keep asking curious questions.

When it had become almost impossible for him not to press on Master Bruce again to tell him what was going on, he accidentally found out. He really wasn't spying, he tried to justify before himself, it just happened. It was eight days after the night at the circus, a Monday afternoon, when he cleaned his employer's desk. There were, of course, a lot of papers lying around. He was used to them and skilfully cleaned without mixing them up, when something caught his eye. Instead of the usual diagrams and endless contracts there was a multi-sided document titled „Application for Guardianship" on top of everything else.

Application for Guardianship. From anything he had expected to be the explanation for Master Bruce's lately changed manners, this was something he would never have thought of. He wanted to take in that orphaned boy from the circus? Had he even thought about what this meant? He didn't know a thing about how to raise a child, to begin with, and in addition he would drag the boy into the frenzy of the media. He'd set him under constant attack of crazy journalists, something no one should have to endure, least of all a traumatised child which had just lost it's parents. And this was only the tip of the iceberg. How did he plan to keep his secret identity hidden from someone he lived with? The boy was bound to notice something! After all, Batman went missing for hours, even days at a time, not to mention the various, inexplicable injuries he came home with every other week.

Alfred usually tried not to interfere with his employer's life but this time he felt it to be his responsibility. He had to protect both the man and the boy from a mistake which could very well turn out disastrous. When the younger man came back from work tonight, he'd try to talk him out of this before further harm could be done.

His mind kept circling around the whole affair while he continued cleaning the rest of the room. It wouldn't be easy to find a way of approaching the topic without immediately ruining his chances of making a point. The butler was so lost in thought, he jerked up in surprise when he suddenly heard his name.

„Alfred." He hadn't noticed Master Bruce coming home and entering the study. Something really unusual. He turned away from the shelf he was dusting and faced the man in the doorframe. He looked weary and cautious, somehow actually torn. The butler could imagine what was coming next. At least, he didn't have to mention it first. The question remaining was if he was going to admit he had seen the papers or not.

„I need to talk to you, if you don't mind." The younger one's voice sounded exhausted and insecure. Nothing you heard often from the Dark Knight.

„Of course not, Master Bruce." His opposite walked across the room and sat down on the chair behind his desk. His eyes fell on the papers on top.

„You have already seen them, haven't you?" Somehow, Alfred was relieved he didn't need to decide whether to admit it by himself or not.

„Not on purpose. Please forgive my intrusion." Master Bruce made a dismissive gesture.

„It doesn't matter. I wanted to tell you anyway. Actually, I was trying to find a way to address it, but I couldn't think of one that didn't make me sound completely insane."

„If you may allow me the straightforwardness, sir, I don't think this is a good idea." The man in front of him looked up.

„I knew you'd say this, therefore I hesitated so long before finally telling you. This is not a decision, I can make on my own since it will influence your life just as much. But I've thought it through, over and over again and by now, I'm as sure as one can ever get in these matters." Alfred still couldn't see what good it would do, but he would hear his ward out, of course.

„You see, I've met the boy." This surprised the old butler. He had figured that Master Bruce was touched by the similarity of their history, but not, that he had had actual contact with the child.  
„Before that show started, the ringmaster introduced me to the Grayson family. As a VIP guest he figured I needed a special treatment, I guess. So I got the chance of meeting John and Mary Grayson, along with their son Richard. He was very energetic although still polite and he seemed to be very bright. I got really curious on what he was capable of on the trapeze, when he, instead of just going away with his parents, did a backflip onto his hands and walked on them rather than using his feet." The man smiled at the memory.  
„When the show started, I was amazed. Not only the adults were world class acrobats, their son was, too. They did things I wouldn't have deemed possible and I tried to learn from them as much as I could. Then suddenly, something went wrong. I noticed immediately but I couldn't name what it was. The static of the trapeze seemed to have changed. And then Mary Grayson screamed. She was in the air with her husband, reaching out for her son to get him flying, too, when all of a sudden the rope tore. The woman managed to draw back her hands in time, so the boy couldn't grip them and stayed on the platform. But he had to watch his parents fall to their deaths. It was a horrible sight accompanied by an awful sound, I don't want to imagine, what that boy went through in these few seconds. And probably still does." Master Bruce's eyes had lost focus, he seemed to be staring into nothingness, while he recounted that night's events.  
„After that, when all spectators had been sent home and the police arrived, I overheard them talking about Richard. Apparently, he couldn't stay with the circus due to some insurance regulations. So he would have had to go to an orphanage or foster home, but neither had capacities. In the end, they decided on sending him to the juvenile service system. An eight year old boy, who had lost his parents only an hour ago!" The outrage was coming in waves from his ward. And Alfred could share it. This city's social service system needed improvement, that was for sure. „I couldn't get the boy out of my mind since then. And I'm sorry, I didn't talk to you about this earlier, I just wanted to be sure first."  
Now the man looked at his butler directly, a plea for understanding in his eyes. „I want to take the boy in, I want to help him. I can imagine how he feels and I don't want him to be alone with that in some uncaring shelter. I want to give him a home."

Alfred was momentarily stunned at this sudden outburst of emotion. He wasn't used to the other man being so afflicted. He normally kept all his feelings to himself. This was … unexpected. When he got his speech back, he carefully tried to impress some of his worries on his employer.

„Master Bruce, I'm afraid this will prove to be quite difficult. For one, and please forgive my boldness, you don't have much experience with children, so maybe more harm will be done than prevented with the boy. And besides, you are the Batman, if I may say so. How will you be able to keep that a secret?" Something dawned on him. „You don't plan on telling him, do you?"

Master Bruce shook his head. „No, I don't. And I'm not quite sure about how to keep it from him but I think it is possible. Somehow. About me not being an experienced parent… Well, I am not, but you surely are." For the fourth time this evening, the old butler was caught off guard.

„I am, sir?" Master Bruce smiled at him.

„Of course, you are! You raised me and I was no easy going child, as you remind me quite frequently. And to be honest, I was hoping for your help in all this. I won't be able to manage it alone."

Alfred felt like he should be thinking hard about this, taking all arguments into account, but his mind went blank. He felt like he was stuck between the options and didn't know how to go back or forth. A child at Wayne Manor again. He had thought there'd never be another one, with the only living member of the Wayne family being constantly alone and caught up in his fight against evil. The idea was intriguing, indeed. And it would probably do Master Bruce some good to have someone to relate to, to care for even. There would be the need for him to constantly socialise, which definitely was something desirable. But this didn't erase the problem of the secret identity. Was it possible to keep the boy from knowing? Maybe, if they were careful. And really lucky. But Master Bruce seemed to be very sure, determined even. And normally, he made the right decisions. So…

„Well then, sir, I believe it is decided. When are you going to hand this application in?"

 _You made it through the first chapter, congratulations! If you liked it, I'd be thrilled to hear about it in a review. If you didn't, tell me anyways. And if you're too lazy to write... That's alright, too. I do understand that because I'm exactly the same most of the time ;-)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Second chapter, here we go.  
Thanks for the reviews (especially the _Guest _I couldn't PM to thank directly), I was thrilled to get a reaction so soon. It absolutely made my morning. I'm glad you liked it!  
Someone told me, I got the quotation marks wrong. First: Thanks for that, that's exactly what I meant when I asked all of you to correct me. Second (to every one who thought of telling me the same thing): I know, I just couldn't help it, my tablet refused to change them so they're the German way now..._

The upcoming days were some of the most tensed Alfred had ever experienced in his time at Wayne Manor. Which meant quite something , considering he had been there both when Master Bruce's parents had died and later when their son decided on becoming the Batman. He caught himself often just staring into nothingness, his thoughts wandering to the unknown boy who was going to live with them. Who was going to be thrown into a completely different life. And an highly unusual one. After all, how many children lived with only a guardian and a butler in an old mansion, beneath which the city's vigilante had his hideout. Not to mention said vigilante being the guardian… This child, Richard, would lead a life in the spotlight and in deepest shadow at the same time. Everyone in the whole city would know his name, the Prince of Gotham's ward. But he'd never know what was really going on in the house he was hopefully going to call his home.

But Alfred's thoughts were nothing compared to what Master Bruce seemed to be going through. The otherwise so calm man (at least at home) couldn't stop walking the hallways, again checking all the empty rooms, trying to decide which one to give to the new member of the household. And he joined Alfred in whatever he was doing at the moment about five times as often as usual. He would come to the room the butler was currently working in seemingly by accident and then stay there. Either looking out of a window or picking a book from some shelf, sometimes actually just watching a clock tick. At one or two occasions he seemed to be on the search for something to say, but always gave up before saying a word. The butler was close to ask, but decided against it. Master Bruce would talk when he was ready.

About a week after the papers had been handed in, the younger man finally started to share his thoughts and worries with his butler. It was at dinner, when he suddenly began to speak, startling Alfred by it.

„Do you think it was the right decision?" His voice was clear as ever but the slight uncertainty beneath the words was obvious.

„Concerning the boy?" Master Bruce nodded at the rhetorical question. „I do believe so, sir. Everything is an improvement in comparison to the juvenile service system, don't you think?"

„Yes, probably you're right. I just …", the younger one hesitated, „it's such a big decision not only for you and me but especially for the boy. It will affect his life immensely and I'm afraid maybe not for the better." His tone got even more insecure. „I do know how he feels right now and I also know what a balancing act it has been to raise me right. He doesn't even have the advantage of being familiar with who he's going to live with from now on, other than me at the time. You had been around my whole life before you started taking care of me, but Richard… He has only seen me once."

Alfred decided, he had to step in before Master Bruce got into it too far. Yes, at first he had been against all this, but the longer he thought about it and the longer he observed how his ward reacted to it, the more certain he became. Taking the boy in would prove to be the right decision, although it maybe could take a while.

„Master Bruce, you need to stop worrying. It won't do any good, only overshadow everything that is coming. You will do well as the child's guardian and, forgive my boldness, you will certainly benefit from his presence, especially if he really is such a energetic young boy as you described."

His employer lifted his head a bit and turned around to look at his butler. „What do you mean by saying I will benefit? I'm not doing this for my advantage!", he started to sound angry. „I know, people will think that, probably call him „charity case" or something, but I'm surprised that you think about this the same way. I wouldn't have thought that you'd accuse me of using him to influence my reputation as well."

As this hadn't been at all what he meant, Alfred hurried to explain.

„No, sir, you mistook me. I never intended to imply anything like it. I only meant to say, it will do you good to have some social contact at home." For he knew what Master Bruce was going to say, he forestalled it. „I know, I am here as well, but I do not count. I am the butler, not someone you can relate to on the same height. And that is just the way it should be, but having someone else here, someone maybe even becoming something like family to you… That will certainly make things better."

The other man seemed to be on the search for words, but in the end only said: „Thanks, Alfred."

Another two days later, the two men were standing in the hallway leading up to Master Bruce's bedroom, trying to decide, which one of the empty rooms at either side was going to be given to young Richard. The one to the left was slightly bigger, but the one to the right had a wonderful view over the park behind the mansion. In the end, they decided view was more important than space in a house as enormous as this, quite apart from the fact that it was very well possible to switch again, if the boy wished to. The next problem to face was the one of furniture. A huge bed, a desk, a wardrobe and an empty shelf were already in there, but nothing of it looked very childlike. What did you have to do to a room to make it appealing to an 8-year-old? A different colour for the walls? Some playthings? As neither of them knew, they just left it the way it was for now.

There were other things to be thought about as well, what school the boy was going to attend, for example, but they had to wait until Richard arrived, so the only thing left to do was wait. Which was a lot harder than expected… Both Alfred and Master Bruce could often be seen wandering around, lost in thought once again.

* * *

Three and a half weeks after the initial incident, the so long awaited day finally arrived. At 2 pm, Mister Bruce Wayne had an appointment with a member of the CPS to take Richard John Grayson home with him. Alfred, of course, came along.

When they arrived early, the butler for once in his life not being exactly punctual, Master Bruce seemed to be excited. Well, as excited as he was able to be. He checked the fit of his suit twice, before entering the building, in which Richard currently lived. It was a catholic orphanage, he had moved here about a week ago after he got beaten up by some other kids at the juvenile service system facility.

Inside, the two men met with Mrs. Johnson, the social worker in charge of the boy. She was a stern but just looking woman in her fifties and she showed no sign of timidity face to face with the famous (and slightly intimidating) Bruce Wayne.

„Mr. Wayne, I'm Alice Johnson. We telephoned." The man took the offered hand and shook it, smiling friendly.

„Yes, Mrs. Johnson, I remember. Pleasure to meet you."

„You too." She turned slightly away from them, now facing the hallway leading deeper into the building. With a wave of her hand she asked: „Shall we go then? Richard is waiting in one of the common rooms."

Alfred noticed the pleased look on his employers face. The younger one had never liked people who wasted time. When the three of them started walking, the butler stayed a few steps behind, keeping an eye on the surroundings. The walls were bare and needed a repaint, the ceiling was low and decorated with cobwebs. This most definitely was not a good place for children to grow up.

They reached a shabby looking door, which Mrs. Johnson opened for them. At the first moment, the room behind it seemed to be empty except a huge table in the middle. Only on a second, closer look, they saw the small boy sitting on a chair in a corner of the room. He didn't look up when they entered, so they could only see the tousled black hair, but not his face.

„Richard, this is Mr. Wayne." Before the woman could say anything else, Master Bruce had walked over to the child and kneeled before him. He hold out his hand.

„Hello, I'm Bruce. You're Richard, right?" The boy nodded, but didn't take the hand. He kept staring at the floor. Mrs. Johnson piped in again.

„Richard, don't you want to be polite and greet Mr. Wayne?" Her voice wasn't scolding, but she didn't tolerate dissent either.

„Hello, Mr. Wayne." The boy was barely audible, but he looked up and finally took the still offered hand. He had a friendly face but his eyes looked as if he had been crying a lot lately.

„Call me Bruce, please. And this", the man gestured towards his butler who lowered his head in greeting, „is Alfred. You will live with us from now on, did Mrs. Johnson tell you about that?"

Richard nodded again. He looked at his new guardian attentively. „I have seen you before."

Now Master Bruce smiled. „Yes, you have. We met at the circus." At this, the boy cringed and the man put his hand on one of the child's knees.

„I'm sorry", he apologized. „I know how you feel."

„No, you don't," Richard murmured so low, it was hard to understand.

„Actually, yes, I do. When I was a kid, my parents died, too. Alfred there took me in, so I didn't have to live in an orphanage or a foster family. And when I saw what happened to your family, I decided, I wanted to do the same thing for you. It took a while until everything was settled, but now I'm here and I ask you, if you want to come and live with us."

The boy shrugged. „It doesn't matter to me." Alfred was startled about how detached he sounded. A child shouldn't be so sad that it didn't make a difference anymore, where it lived.

Bruce seemed to feel the same. When he glanced at his butler, his face spoke of deep concern. After a second, he turned back to the boy. „Well, maybe you'll come to like it. Will you give it a try?" He stood up again and waited until the boy moved, too, before beckoning to Alfred. The three of them left the room, the social worker waling ahead, leading the way.

They went to the dormitory Richard was currently sleeping in to get his belongings. Both the butler and his employer were shocked on how few things the boy had been allowed to keep, when social services removed him from the circus. Only enough clothes to fill a small rucksack including his old costume, two photographs of his parents and a stuffed animal, a small elephant.

When they got back to the front door, Alfred going ahead to open it for the other two, the butler suddenly backed away.

„Master Bruce, there appear to be quite a number of journalists outside, apparently waiting for you and young Master Richard to come out. I suggest using the back door in order to avoid them. I will get the car and meet you there." The other man grimaced, he hated all those vultures, always had.

„Thank you, Alfred", he said before turning to the boy. „Will you come with me, Richard?" He only earned a small nod, otherwise the boy stayed silent. It seemed like it could take a while, before they got him talking again.

When the two younger ones had disappeared into the building, Alfred opened the door and walked past the journalists. Luckily, none of them recognized him. It had its advantages always to be in the background. He got to the car without any incidents, glad he had chosen an inconspicuous vehicle instead of the limousine. While he drove to the backside of the facility, he saw some of the writers turn their heads towards him. Please, don't let them follow. At first it seemed as if his prayers had been heard, but when he reached the second entrance and got out of the car to open the doors, some of the journalists appeared around the corner. He tried to hurry, but it was too late. The first cameras flashed and questions attacked the man and the child at his side, when they got out of the building.

„Mr. Wayne, are you planning on adopting the boy?"

„Mr. Wayne, who is the boy?"

„Hey there, what's your name? Where do you come from?"

„Are you going to live with Mr. Wayne?"

Master Bruce tried to shield the boy with his body from the attackers, but despite his huge figure, he didn't quite succeed. Richard was completely frightened and seemed unable to move, he just stood there, frozen to the spot, his eyes wide in shock. After two seconds, Master Bruce picked him up and carried him over to the car, holding the boy's head to his shoulder to protect him. He hurried onto the backseat, Alfred closed the door, got behind the steering wheel and started the engine. He had to be careful when he drove past the journalists as they tried to hinder the car on leaving. As soon as they reached the main road, he accelerated towards Wayne Manor. From behind him he could hear Master Bruce talk to the boy.

„It's alright, Richard, it's alright, they're gone." Alfred glanced in the rear-view mirror. The child sat on the very edge of his seat, leaning as far away from his new guardian as possible, while the man tried to calm him down.

„I'm sorry you had to experience that, I had hoped to avoid the journalists. But I promise you, they won't get to you again, I'll protect you. And they can't get to the house, so you are completely safe there."

The words didn't seem to have any impact on Richard, he stayed silent, until they had nearly reached their destination. Both men turned their heads in surprise, when all of a sudden the high pitched voice of the boy timidly asked: „Why?"

Master Bruce turned to him again. „Why? Why what?" He tried his best to sound friendly to not scare the boy even more, but apparently he didn't know what the question was aiming at.

„Why were they there, why did they ask so much?"

„You mean the journalists? Didn't Mrs. Johnson tell you about me? I thought she explained everything." Alfred could see the man shake his head in the mirror. „I am sorry, I assumed you knew. See, a lot of people know me because I own a company here in Gotham and so, Journalists always try to get new information about me and my life. Someone must have seen me enter the building and told them where I was, so they came to see why I was there. And since you were with me, they tried to learn about you, too. But I promise, Alfred and I will do our best to keep them away from you."

„Indeed we will", the butler muttered under his breath.

Richard didn't say anything, just kept his gaze on his knees and crouched at the far end of his seat.

 _Poor boy... :-( Let's see how long it'll take him to ease up a bit.  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_So, third chapter. Nearly as long as the first one.  
I'm afraid most people stopped reading after the first chapter (not only some, but nearly all of them, the drop in numbers was far more signficant than it had been with my other two stories) which is a real pity, but oh well. As long as there are a few left who like it and keep reading... I'll post it until the very end, that's for sure. For your orientation, it should be a total of eight chapters. So at the pace I'm updating, it should be finished around wednesday next week. I hope you stay with me, and, more important, like the story.  
There's some fluff ahead :-)_

The boy's reaction when they finally arrived at Wayne Manor was nearly non-existent and barely noticeable. Hadn't the butler been an excellent observer, he wouldn't have seen the slightly widened eyes or heard the low intake of air. But the astonishment only lasted for a second, before the boy withdrew back into himself again.

They got out of the car and Master Bruce walked over to Richard, kneeling before him once again.

„Shall I show you your room?" He only got a shrug in response. A sad expression crossed his face before he stood up again and started walking slowly towards the house, waiting for the boy to follow him. Behind them, Alfred carried the rucksack.

Neither the huge entrance hall nor any of the wide hallways made the boy lift his eyes from his walking feet and when they reached his room, he only stood in the doorframe, barely looking at what was his now.

„We hope you like the room. If you want to change or add anything, just tell Alfred or I and we'll do it." Master Bruce didn't give up on trying to get through to the boy, however with little success. Richard nodded the tiniest bit and walked over to his bed to sit on it. The butler followed and placed his belongings next to him, before turning for the door again. When he had nearly reached it, he looked back at the boy.

„Master Richard, do you have any preferences on what I shall prepare for dinner tonight?" He could see the child flinch at the odd address but the only answer he got was another shrug.

His employer was still standing in the middle of the room, thoughtfully looking at the boy. When the butler reached him, he broke loose and the two men left the room, leaving the door ajar. It was obvious that Master Richard didn't want any company.

Alfred went for the kitchen to prepare dinner, Master Bruce following behind. At first, neither of them spoke, both thinking about what they had just experienced. Only when the butler had finished collecting the ingredients for pancakes, the younger man broke the silence, a thoughtful tone to his voice.

„I wonder how long it will take the boy to get over what happened." Alfred looked up from the eggs he was just mixing together with flour and milk.

„Quite a while, I assume. With all due respect, you never fully accomplished it." It seemed as if Master Bruce wanted to argue with that but thought better of it after a few seconds.

„You're probably right", he sounded sad. „But the boy … He was so happy when I first met him, so energetic. I can't, I won't imagine him being withdrawn like this for the rest of his life."

„We will do everything in our power to prevent that", Alfred assured him.

Half an hour later, the pancakes lay in a steaming pile on a plate and the butler went to call for the boy. Master Bruce had left the kitchen twenty minutes ago and would now certainly be in his study. Since that lay on the way up to the bedrooms, he would notice it was time to eat by his butler walking by. The two men had lived together for so long, they hardly needed communication anymore.

Master Richard's door still stood ajar and apparently he hadn't moved at all. He sat on the bed, his rucksack seemingly untouched next to him, exactly as they had left him. Alfred took a second to pity the boy. He looked so miserable, it was hard not to just walk over and try to comfort him. But he knew, it would do no good, the child only would recoil and withdraw even further. It almost hurt him physically to see such a young person suffer so much. It was the same as it had been with Master Bruce back in the day, when Dr. and Mrs. Wayne had been shot. What was it, that Alfred kept getting involved with children whose parents had died right in front of them? Like he was a magnet for other people's misery. He shook his head inwardly before getting back to his original task.

„Master Richard, I made pancakes. Would you care to come down with me and eat some dinner?" He smiled at the boy who silently got up and walked over to him, without looking him in the eye or answering directly. It really would take a while to make him unbend.

The meal was a silent affair, as the boy didn't say anything and Master Bruce gave up on trying to start a conversation after his first three attempts had failed.

When they had finished, Master Richard got up.

„Shall I walk you up to your room?", his new guardian offered. The boy shook his head.

„Good night", he said in such a low voice, it was hard to make out the words, despite both employer and employee having excellently trained ears.

„Good night", the men answered in unison.

The boy left the kitchen and they heard his feet tap on the floorboards and up the stairs.

It was later that evening, only minutes before Master Bruce was about to leave for the cave to turn into Batman, when an indefinable noise could be heard. Alfred was just walking by the bedroom corridor and listened closer, trying to find out what it was. Maybe he accidentally had left a window open and there was a draught somewhere. He heard it again and moved closer, still trying to define what it was. When he entered the hallway, Master Bruce came out of his bedroom where he had been preparing to leave.

There it was again. It sounded like … like a stifled sob. Master Richard! The two of them realised it in the same instant and synchronously started moving towards the boy's door. It was closed. Should they open it? They didn't know whether the boy was awake or crying in his sleep and he probably didn't want to be seen being in tears by some strangers. While they stood in the hallway, indecisive what to do, the sound changed. It grew louder and they could hear frantic movement. They looked at each other, trying to decide what was best, when suddenly the boy screamed.

Master Bruce burst through the door instinctively but stopped dead as soon as he had entered. Alfred glanced into the room, trying to make out what had made his employer hesitate. If the content hadn't been so sad, he had smiled at the picture before him.

Master Richard wasn't lying in his bed. He had moved with his blanket and pillow to the floor directly beneath the window, apparently feeling uncomfortable on the huge mattress. Come to think of it, it had been to be expected. After all, the boy had lived in a caravan for most of his life, so this room had to feel like a saloon to him, the furniture being twice as big as he was used to, at least.

The boy was covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The blanket was tightly wrapped around him, due to his panicked movements, but he thrashed around nevertheless. Tears were streaking down his face and he muttered unintelligible words.

Alfred could feel his heart sink at the sight. He had hardly ever felt such strong compassion before. He wanted to move over there and calm the boy down, but he knew, this was not up to him. So he stood in the doorframe while Master Bruce hurried over to the makeshift bed. The younger man laid a hand on the boy's shoulder.

„Richard. Wake up. Wake up, it's only a dream." His soothing tone didn't get through. The boy only got more frantic, now shouting for his parents.

„Mom, no! No, don't! Stay with me, please! Stay! Don't leave me! Dad! No!" It became harder to bear every second and Alfred could see the same compassion he felt on Master Bruce's face. He knew, the younger man could feel with the boy. Although it had became less often over the years, in some nights, Alfred could still hear him scream before he woke from a nightmare. Certainly, watching the boy suffer the same he did made it even harder for him than it was for Alfred. And the butler was barely able to stand it so it had to be pure hell for the other one.

When the boy screamed again, Master Bruce shook him carefully but determined.

„Richard, you have to wake up. Richard!" His slightly raised voice finally managed to pull the child back up. The boy suddenly breathed in deeply and his eyes fluttered open. As soon as he sensed someone being in front of him, he put his arms around Master Bruce's body and clung to him, burying his face in the man's shirt. He was still crying and shaking but considerably calmer than mere seconds ago.

It took Master Bruce a moment to get over the shock of having someone hug him, but after he overcame it, he put his arms around the boy and held him close, stroking his hair with one hand.

„It's alright, Richard. It's alright, it's alright. Calm down, it was only a dream." Alfred was sure, he would never forget the image of the tall, muscular man sitting on the floor, comforting a small boy he barely knew. It was one of the most touching things he had seen in his life.

The butler was just about to leave so Master Richard wouldn't feel like his privacy was invaded even more, when the boy suddenly backed away from his guardian. Apparently, it had taken him until now to gain full consciousness and comprehend the situation. As soon as he realised what he was doing, he pulled up his blanket and crouched to the wall behind him, as far away from Master Bruce as possible. He didn't look at the man, only tried to wipe the tears from his face, as if he could hide what had happened and by that make the two men in his room forget about it.

Master Bruce silently got up and left the room, Alfred following him and closing the door behind them. It would do no good to try talking to the boy now, they would have to wait until he opened up to them by himself.

As his employer wordlessly walked away, the butler couldn't help but follow him with his eyes, thinking that apparently Master Bruce was very well capable of bonding to someone. Far more than either of them had thought possible. Maybe, just maybe, taking the boy in had been the best decision in years after all.

* * *

When Alfred looked at the newspapers the next morning, he was tempted to just drop them in the bin. He didn't want Master Bruce to read the headline, it would only cause him to get angry about the media again. But he knew, there was no way his employer wouldn't get a glimpse on the Gotham Gazette (and probably every other paper) today. So trying to hide it would be of no use.

The butler shook his head at the lurid headline. „Brucie's Charity Case", followed by a side-long article, speculating who the boy was Bruce Wayne had been seen with outside the orphanage and why he had taken him with him. It concluded with the assumption that it was an adoption to place the CEO with the playboy image in a better light.

Alfred hated it, when his employer was depicted as such a superficial man. No one really knew him, no one appreciated what he did for the people in this city with his donations and the Wayne Foundation. Even as Batman he was eyed with suspicion, the name Dark Knight always used with fear instead of gratitude. If it hadn't been for the butler's British indulgence, he probably would have spoken up long ago. At least to make people see how much of a real man Bruce Wayne was, although he'd never risk exposing his secret identity.

With is eyes angrily narrowed, the butler walked back up to the house, leaving the postbox at the entrance gate behind him. When he reached the kitchen again, he placed the newspaper next to his employers plate as usually and hoped, he wouldn't get too worked up about it.

Already hearing the younger man coming down the stairs, Alfred left for Master Richard's room to wake the boy.

„Good morning, Alfred", Master Bruce greeted him in the hallway.

„Good morning, sir", the butler responded. „Breakfast is already prepared, I will just get Master Richard to join us." His employer nodded and he left for the bedroom floor.

The butler reached the boy's door and knocked carefully. He didn't want to scare him. When there was no response, he knocked again. After a few seconds, he heard a low „Yes" and entered the room.

He didn't exactly know what he had expected, maybe for the boy to be partially asleep or at least for him still being on the floor. But no, Master Richard sat there, fully clothed, on a perfectly made bed. Again, it seemed like he tried to make them forget what had happened the night before.

The butler felt a stab when he realized how much the boy tried to keep his distance. How long would it take him to open up even a bit?

„I wish a good morning, Master Richard. Would you care to join Master Bruce for breakfast?"

The boy looked at him with a slightly frightened expression on his face, he obviously didn't want to repeat the silent meal from the evening before. But after a second, he got up nonetheless and followed Alfred down the hallways.

Reaching the kitchen, the butler found his employer reading the newspaper, his eyes fixed on the front page, frowning. He obviously was every bit as angry as expected. When he heard his butler approach, he lifted his gaze and looked at him.

„This… Alfred, have you…?" He didn't finish the question when he saw Master Richard entering, but Alfred gave him a small nod, confirming he had read the article and found it just as outrageous.

Master Bruce turned to the boy and smiled at him. „Good morning, Richard."

He didn't get an answer, but the boy walked over to where a second plate was placed on the table and shyly sat down.

Alfred knew, Master Richard didn't want to be addressed but his job forbade him not to offer every possibility.

„Would you like something apart from bred for breakfast? An egg, maybe, or pancakes?" Master Richard just shook his head a tiny little bit. It took several minutes before he finally grabbed a slice of toast and some marmalade, trying not to make a sound while slowly eating it. The two men looked at each other, concerned. What could they do to make it easier for the boy, to make him feel more comfortable? Or was waiting the only option?

„Would you like me to stay home today, Richard? We could do something together. I can show you the Manor's grounds and the forest, if you like." Master Bruce tried to start a conversation after several minutes of silent eating. The boy didn't even look up, only shook his head. The man tried again. „Do you want to do something else? You just have to say it." Another shake of the head. „Shall I stay here just in case?"

The persistence of his employer told Alfred, how much he tried to be there for the boy. Usually, it took lethal injuries to keep the man away from his work.

But again, the boy declined the offer. Master Bruce sighed.

„Alright then. I'll be home as soon as possible."

After his employer had gone to work and only the butler and the boy were left in the kitchen, Alfred addressed the shy child.

„Do you feel inclined to explore the house today, Master Richard? With my assistance or without?" Since he hadn't expected a positive answer, he wasn't surprised when he earned a shake of the small head opposite him. „And do you prefer something for lunch?"

He was actually startled when the boy finally spoke. „No", came the low reply. „May I go now?" His eye still glued to the table, he waited for an answer. Alfred looked upon his employer's ward with compassion. This had to be overwhelming for him. Strangers as his new caretakers and a completely foreign environment which, in addition, differed as much from what he was used to as possible. Not only was Wayne Manor huge but also far less loud and crowded than the circus. Not to mention the different atmosphere. Light there, chastened here. The complete opposite.

„Of course you may, young sir." Alfred could see the relief in the boy's posture, as he stood up and went for the door. „I will call for you when lunch is prepared. If you need anything in the meantime, don't hesitate to call on me. I'll be either in the kitchen or the entrance hall. It needs to be dusted." With a slight nod, the boy vanished silently. Alfred listened after him but couldn't hear anything. He had to smile. Not only his employer managed to move without a sound throughout the house, but his ward did as well already. And the butler knew, it wasn't easy, with all those old floorboards.

The morning passed without anything special to happen, Alfred cleaned the kitchen and went for the entrance hall to eliminate every speck of dust he could find. When he was nearly finished, he felt someone looking at him. Apparently, Master Richard had left his room after all and given in to a natural curiosity. Not to scare the boy away, he pretended not to have noticed and kept swishing over the sideboards, but he moved and turned inconspicuously until he could see the doorway out of the corner of his eye. Master Richard was standing there, mostly hidden behind the wall and watched him. Another thing, guardian and ward had in common. When Master Bruce had been that age, it was a game to him. ‚Stalk Alfred and try not to get caught', he could spend hours doing that until the butler finally turned around all of a sudden and signalled he had seen the boy. Of course, this was not an option today. So he just finished his work and headed back for the kitchen to prepare lunch, giving the boy the opportunity to silently vanish again.

The pasta was nearly ready and he was about to get to the boy's room, when suddenly, Master Richard was standing next to the table, patiently waiting and nearly making the butler jump. Well, this time he hadn't even sensed the boy's presence, far from hearing it. Maybe Master Bruce could learn something from this child.

„I made spaghetti Bolognese, I hope you approve, young sir?" Was that a tiny smile accompanying the boy's nod? The butler did certainly hope so. It would be quite a bit of progress.

He served the meal and stood back again. „Bon appetite, Master Richard."

After several minutes, the boy slowly lifted his head and looked at the butler. „Would you.." he started in a low voice but left the sentence unfinished. His face turned red and he continued eating. Alfred smiled inwardly. Although it was sad, the boy was so shy and unhappy, it made him quite adorable. „Yes, Master Richard? What did you mean to ask?" he inquired friendly.

Still blushed, the boy tried again. „Would you… Could you maybe sit down with me? Please?" The last words were barely audible. The butler was taken by surprise. What an unusual request! But then again, probably most people weren't used to someone standing nearby doing nothing while they were eating. Normally, he would never have broken with the etiquette like that, but he was determined to make the boy feel as comfortable as under the circumstances possible, so…

„If you want me to. I assume, Master Bruce wouldn't object." Alfred slowly sat down. It was a curious feeling, he wasn't used to sitting at this table.

„Thank you", came the shy voice again.

The boy continued to eat and more than once he seemed to hesitate as if he was struggling with himself. Alfred couldn't help but get a bit curious and he would have liked to ask, although, as a butler, he was trained to stay back and keep silent. Over the last few years, he had become a bit sloppy on that account. Ever since Master Bruce had come up with the idea of being Batman, Alfred sometimes felt more like a nurse/coach/voice of reason and conscience than like a butler. Which meant he had to give up his distance inch by inch. Right when he had decided to ask, Master Richard worked up the courage to speak again.

„Why don't you eat?"

The butler was taken by surprise. „Excuse me, sir?"

His voice a little more confident, the boy clarified. „You don't eat with us. Why?"

„Oh, because I'm the butler. And a butler doesn't sit and eat with the family he serves."

Master Richard looked at him, disbelief in his eyes. „Why not? That's stupid."

Alfred frowned a little bit at the choice of words and instantly, the boy backpedalled and stared down at the table once more. „I'm sorry." His voice was very low again and he seemed shocked by his own bravery.

The butler felt pity and tried to comfort him. „Already forgiven and forgotten. I was just surprised, in this house, the tone usually is quite calm and very polite. I am not used to someone speaking his mind like this, least of all about upper class conventions", he explained friendly.

Nonetheless, the boy didn't talk again during the meal and afterwards left for his room without another word. Alfred only hoped he hadn't accidentally destroyed the progress made so far. If today's achievement was one step forwards, two steps backwards, he knew only he himself was to blame for it.

 _Somehow, the website keeps messing with my paragraphs, no matter what I try. I mean, I put this in between the lines when a part is over, and then he just deletes it. Why? It's not even something special, it could very well be part of my writing, it cant't just take it away o.O I hope, the lines I put in now stay. Otherwise it could get a bit confusing during the next chapters.  
Oh, and I would be happy to see a review. Just so I know what you guys think about the story. If it's negative, fine, I want to hear it anyways (although obviously I'd prefer positive comments^^)_


	4. Chapter 4

_First: Thank you so much,_ Nightwingsass (Guest), _I really appreciated it! :-) In general I'm glad you all think Alfred's POV is interesting since it's why I wrote this fic in the first place. I mean, there already are hundreds of Robin origin stories so otherwise there's no reason to write another one, in my opinion._  
 _Second: So I figured out why the website stole my paragraphs. You probably wondered about my weird sentence in the A/N at the end of last chapter. Originally there were two symbols in between the words but it stole them. Obviously the program can't deal with small arrow-like symbols._ _But as the lines seem to work, I won't complain^^_

Around five in the afternoon Master Bruce came home. When he had said he would try to be back early, Alfred wouldn't have dared to hope for _this_ early. It was highly unusual for the CEO to leave his office before eight, unless there was a social event to prepare for. But the butler certainly wouldn't complain, in his opinion, Master Bruce spent far too much time everywhere else but not in his own house. When he heard his employer's Lexus pull up the driveway, he went to the entrance hall to greet him. The door opened and a wet Bruce Wayne entered. At the moment, it was raining cats and dogs outside, but the sky looked as if the clouds were about to disappear soon.

„Good evening, Master Bruce. How was your day?" The butler held his hands out to take his employer's coat.

„As usual, Alfred, as usual. Nothing special happened. How about yours? Could you get through to Richard?" The butler could hear the slightly hopeful tone in the other man's voice.

„Only partially", he answered and began to recall today's events.

„So he did speak by choice, although now he seems to be scared again", Master Bruce summarized, after Alfred concluded. „Well, if he brought up the courage once, he will manage again, if only we give him enough time." He walked towards the stairs. „I will check on him before I go to my study. There are some important papers I have to have read by tomorrow." So not really at home after all. Well, Alfred could have guessed. His eyes followed the other man walking away, wondering what was to come.

About three hours later, the butler was on his way to the study, the cup of coffee in hand, his employer usually drank around eight in the evening so he could last through the night. The man most definitely didn't get enough sleep. He found Master Bruce sitting behind his desk, reading some papers. The man looked up as he got company.

„Thank you, Alfred." The butler nodded once to signalise he accepted the thanks.

„Sir, would you like me to look in on Master Richard before he goes to bed?"

His employer shook his head. „No, I think he prefers to be left alone. He didn't say a word when I went to his room earlier." The butler could see the other man frown, obviously concerned about the boys reticence.

„Very well. I'm sure, he will open up in time. May that be all for now?"

„Yes, thank you, Alfred." The butler turned and left his employer to deal with his papers.

When he had finished his every evening tour through the house to check every door and the alarm system, it had finally stopped raining outside. He considered this to be the perfect opportunity to let some fresh air into the bedrooms.

Since there was no light shining from under Master Richards door, he assumed the boy was already asleep and went for the master bedroom. Just when he was pulling back the curtains next to the huge wardrobe, he heard something. The distant sobbing from the night before. Master Richard crying in his sleep. His heart sank, a wave of compassion for the boy flooded over him.

By the time he was back in the hallway, the sound had become louder and right when he was to set foot on the staircase, he heard the first scream. Before he could decide how to react, Master Bruce hurried towards him. He aimed for the boy's door, but stopped dead before he reached the handle.

A pained expression on his face, he turned to his butler.

„Maybe I shouldn't wake him. He didn't seem to appreciate it last night." Alfred could see how badly he wanted to save the boy his agony but at the same time tried not to interfere when he didn't want it.

The men looked at each other, indecisive what to do. They could hear Master Richard call for his parents and indistinctly crying out. Neither of them seemed to be able to move. As if leaving would make it even worse. They both hoped, the boy would calm down on his own eventually.

The minutes passed and the screaming didn't lessen, even got worse. At one point, Master Bruce had started pacing up and down the floor, like a tiger trapped in a cage. He seemed unable to endure this much longer. Alfred, too, had trouble keeping to himself. It was agony, listening to this young child being tortured by his own mind.

After nearly the quarter of an hour, the butler decided, it was enough. By now, he could hardly stand still anymore and Master Bruce seemed barely able to contain himself any longer.

„Sir, with all due respect, if you will not waken the boy, I will do it myself."

His employer lifted his head and looked at him, gratitude in his eyes. Apparently, he had waited for the older man to break the ban, since he didn't want to go back on his own word.

With two long strides, he was at the boy's door, opening it without being careful about the noise. The butler could barely stand the sight. Master Richard was on the floor once again, lying beneath the window. His pillow lay an armlength away from him and the blanket was closely wrapped around his sweating figure. His hair stuck out in all directions and his eyes moved frantically behind the lids. It only took a second for Master Bruce to reach his ward. This time, he didn't even try to wake the boy by simply calling his name, they both knew, that wouldn't work. The child was too far gone for that. He grabbed his shoulders and shook him carefully.

„Richard, wake up! You need to wake up! Richard!" It was exactly as it had been the night before. The boy slowly gained consciousness and, as soon as he sensed the man kneeling before him, wrapped his arms around him, crying. This time, Master Bruce didn't hesitate, and hugged him back. It was obvious that physical contact helped the boy calm down. Alfred stood in the doorway, watching the scene and marvelling about how many sides there could be to a man. A successful CEO, an actor good enough to trick everybody, a combat fighter with ninja skills, a vigilante and, apparently, something close to a parent.

After several seconds, the boy pulled back, just as the night before, but less fierce. He tried to hide his tears by wiping them away and didn't look at either of them. So Master Bruce got up without a word and left with his butler right behind him.

Back in the hallway, Alfred spoke first. „I suggest, we immediately wake Master Richard the next time this happens, rather than wait and let him live through his nightmares."

Master Bruce looked at him, exhausted and slightly shaken. „I agree with you there."

* * *

The next few days passed without any changes. In the morning, they would find Master Richard sitting on his neatly made bed, have a silent breakfast and Master Bruce would ask if he should stay home. The boy would shake his head and the man would leave. Alfred then spent the days working around the manor, occasionally seeing Richard standing somewhere watching him or hearing the boy silently open a door or another, peaking at what was behind it. Then they had lunch together, the butler always feeling slightly uncomfortable about eating at the table with a member of the family. Richard rarely spoke, asking a short question or answering one with yes or no at the most. Sometimes, Alfred told him about the Wayne family or the house, and the boy listened, seeming a bit more interested every day. In the late afternoon, Master Bruce would come home and he and the boy would share a rather silent meal. Nearly every attempt of starting a conversation failing, it always ended with the boy leaving for his room and not being seen again that evening. At least not until he started crying. Master Bruce always waited before he went on patrol and spent the hours between dinner and leaving in his bedroom, so he would hear Richard immediately. At some point, the boy stopped pulling back and trying to hide his tears, just lay back down and fell asleep again in a matter of seconds.

* * *

Approximately a week and a half after Master Bruce had taken the boy in, Alfred couldn't ignore it any longer. When the two of them had another lunch together, he decided the answer to his question was more important than his education, so a little curiosity was acceptable.

„Master Richard, may I ask you something?" The boy looked at him, nodding cautiously.

„Why don't you talk to Master Bruce?" Alfred had noticed, the boy barely said a word to his guardian, although he seemed fine to say short sentences to the butler by now. Master Richard blushed and looked down at the table, avoiding the man's eyes. Silence spread between them. It took several minutes and some coaxing from Alfred, before the boy finally answered.

„I'm… I don't…", he muttered. „It's just… He's so big and so dark." Ashamed, he lowered his eyes. Alfred felt a smile on his face. He could very well understand what the boy meant. Master Bruce could indeed be quite intimidating, even to a grown man. Considering his tall, broad figure, him always being clad in black suits and his deep voice which rarely laughed, he was bound to feel menacing to a young boy who had just been traumatised.

Alfred spoke as soft as he could. „Master Richard, although I understand why you feel that way, I can assure you, there is absolutely no need to be afraid of Master Bruce. He is a friendly person who knows what you are going through and he tries very hard to make you feel at home here. You already know, his parents died when he was about the same age you are now. And he was very sad for very long so he can understand you." The boy didn't lift his eyes. He didn't seem convinced, so Alfred tried differently.

„Why exactly are you afraid of him? Did he ever gave you a reason? Did he say or do something you didn't like?" That made the boy think.

„No", came the shy and slightly embarrassed answer. The butler smiled again.

„Then I suggest, you give Master Bruce a chance. Maybe you'll learn you actually like him." The boy nodded slowly, his gaze still fixed on his plate. Alfred had another idea. „Would it help if I told you about him? You could ask things you would like to know and I could answer as best as I can, if you like." Another slow nod.

After several minutes, the boy had decided on what to ask. „What is his work?"

„Oh, that is a difficult question. You see, his family is very old and many years ago, one of his grand-grand-grand-grandparents founded a company. This company is named ‚Wayne Tech' and it is passed on from one generation to the next, so Master Bruce is now the head of it. He has to do all kinds of things. Make sure, his employees work correctly and sign contracts with other companies and a lot more." Master Richard considered this.

„That sounds boring." The butler couldn't help but smile.

„Does it indeed."

Alfred felt a bit of hope. Maybe this was the turning point, the conversation necessary, to finally make the boy more comfortable in his new home.

* * *

That evening, the butler was looking forward to dinner. He wanted to see if their talk a few hours ago had done any good. When he called for the boy to come down, a light smile lay on his face.

As usually, the first minutes were silent, until Master Bruce tried to break the silence, as he had every evening before.

„Did you have a nice day, Richard?" he addressed the boy friendly but the butler could see, his employer didn't really hope for a real reaction any longer. The boy nodded in response, his usual answer. Then, after a second, he looked up at Alfred who smiled encouragingly. He could see the boy swallow and open his mouth.

„Yes." It was nearly visible how Master Richard fought with himself. Master Bruce could see it too, so he kept silent, waiting. Finally, the boy had found enough courage. „Did you?"

Master Bruce smiled. „Yes, I did, too. Although yours surely was more fun. I spent the whole day behind a desk reading boring papers." The man obviously tried to keep the conversation going. When the boy didn't answer, he made another attempt. „What did you do?"

It took a few seconds and another smile from Alfred but eventually the boy responded. „I looked at all the pictures in the big room." The butler was surprised. He hadn't heard the boy entering the Gallery, although the floor boards there were especially creaking.

„Oh, so you found my ancestors. Most of them don't look very nice, do they?" Master Richard seemed unsure what to say to that and only looked at the man in front of him for a second, before he dropped his gaze again. „Maybe one day, we can look at the portraits together and I can tell you what I know about them. There are some quite funny stories I remember."

The boy nodded, but obviously his courage was exhausted for now, so Master Bruce didn't try to make him talk any further. But he looked at his butler quizzically, who nodded slightly and smiled, signing he would explain later what had happened to change the boy's behaviour.

A few hours after dinner, the butler met his employer in front of Master Richard's bedroom door. The man was walking up and down the hallway, every now and then stopping at the window, looking a the pouring rain outside.

„Master Bruce, how come you haven't left for patrol?" The younger man paused and looked at Alfred.

„I didn't want to go before Richard needed to be woken up. But it has been silent in his room until now. I wonder if he can finally sleep peacefully." A trace of hope lined Master Bruce's voice.

„I suggest we take a look in on him to make sure", the butler responded.

His employer nodded and carefully opened the door. Alfred followed him in and once again suppressed a smile. The boy lay on the floor, just as he had every night before, but this time, the window stood open. The sound of the rain and the wind in the trees filled the room. Apparently, this calmed young Richard down enough to let him stay asleep. He was slightly restless, but apart from his eyes moving behind the lids and a twitch every now and then, he seemed almost peaceful. Just a boy of eight years, sleeping.

After a minute, the two men silently left the room, leaving the door ajar. Master Bruce turned towards the butler and whispered.

„Alfred, I need to leave now, would you mind listening tonight whether Richards gets nightmares again?"

„Of course not. I shall stay near his room so I'll hear him in case he needs me."

„Thank you!" With that, Master Bruce left for the Batcave.

It was only half past twelve, when Alfred heard the old grandfather clock in the study move again. It was a barely audible noise, but he had heard it so often, sometimes even anxiously waited for it, he would notice it a mile against the wind. Only seconds later, footsteps were coming towards him. They, of course, were unmistakably Master Bruce's, but their usual rhythm was slightly off. When his employer rounded the last corner, it only took Alfred one look to see he was injured. Not badly, only enough to make him limp the tiniest bit. He stood up from the chair he had been sitting in in his watch on Master Richard and moved towards the other man.

„May I ask what happened, sir?"

His employer made a dismissive gesture. „Ah, just some thug. I was descending from a rooftop using the grappling hook and he shot at me. Obviously he missed but instead cut the rope so I fell about five meters. I sprained my ankle at impact since the rain had made the pavement slippery. I would have patrolled on but the risk of compounding the injury was too big. It would be quite difficult to explain to Richard if I couldn't hide it any longer."

Alfred nodded. „Yes, this could prove to be a problem in general. You tend to get yourself injured, if I may say so. What are you planning on telling the boy once you get seriously hurt?"

„I'll cross that bridge when it comes to it." That wasn't a very wise course of action, or rather inaction, in the butler's opinion, but he kept silent. Arguing now wouldn't do any good.

Master Bruce changed the subject. „Did he scream again?" he asked, gesturing towards Richard's door. The butler shook his head.

„No, apparently the sound of wind and rain does the trick to calm the young sir."

The younger man nodded thoughtfully. „Yes, apparently it does. Although I still hope, it does get better as time passes, too. After all, he did talk voluntarily today, maybe that means he feels a bit more comfortable here and by that can sleep better." He looked at the butler. „Speaking of, I meant to ask you. What happened today that made him ease up?"

The question earned a smile from Alfred. „We just had a little talk."

Master Bruce raised an eyebrow. „A talk? About what?"

„About you, sir." The eyebrow travelled even higher. „Master Richard told me why he was so shy and I did my best to make him see it was unfounded."

„So why exactly was it?"

„He was intimidated and probably embarrassed. And I can't blame him for that. He's an eight year old boy who just lost his parents and everything he knew. Now he lives with two strangers in an old, huge Manor and is supposed to fully trust them. In addition, he has nightmares and is woken every time by someone he doesn't really know. When he is most vulnerable, you are there so he feels like there is nothing that can protect him from you."

Master Bruce looked stunned. „But… I do it to help him. I won't hurt him."

„I do know that, sir. But he can't, not by now. I suggested he could talk to you so he'll get to know you and doesn't have to be afraid anymore."

The younger man thought about that for a moment. „Thank you, Alfred."

 _I know, I wrote it myself but you know, it really does happen that the characters start to act on their own while you write them. So did Bruce, when he didn't want to wake Richard. I really liked how it rattled him, it makes him somehow look extremly human (not that he is very Batmanish in this story anyways). I really don't want to praise myself with this comment, far from it. Just wanted to express my opinion.  
Maybe you could tell me what you thought about it?_

 _By the way, speaking in chapters, we're halfway through the story now._


	5. Chapter 5

_Once again, thanks a lot,_ Nightwingsass, _for your review! I'm glad you like the way I portray the characters since that's the biggest challenge for me. Oh, and of course thanks to everyone else who reviewed, too, although I'm pretty sure I answered when possible.  
_ _And while I'm at it, I'd like to thank the friend who got me into reading (and eventually writing) about YJ. She probably won't read this because she already knows the whole story a_ _s my kind-of-beta, but I think she deserves a public mentioning since she is the reason this story exists. And because she told me "no", more than once, when I sent her part of my writing in which I went OOC, accidentally._

 _For now, let's see if Richard can make further progress or if he draws back into himself again._

* * *

The butler was busy preparing breakfast the next morning, when suddenly someone spoke.

„Good morning", came a timid voice from behind him. Alfred turned on the spot, surprised.

„Good morning to you, too, Master Richard. How come you are down here this early?"

The boy shrugged. „I couldn't sleep." He stood in the doorframe, obviously unsure what to do.

The butler thought about telling the boy to sit down, but guessed he wouldn't want that. Sitting next to someone doing something didn't seem to be in the child's nature. Which left one option to make him feel comfortable.

„Maybe you'd like to help me with this?", Alfred asked nicely. He earned a shy nod.

Ten minutes later, when they had just finished and moved to put everything on the table, Master Bruce entered the room. His surprise at the boy's presence was obvious.

„Richard, good morning." He smiled.

The boy, who had a pot of coffee in his hands, looked up. „Morning", came his barely audible answer. Alfred was content. At least some of yesterday's progress seemed to have lasted the night.

Master Bruce moved over to the table to sit down, just as the boy was about to set down the jug. Master Richard tried to elude his guardian and lost his balance. Alfred couldn't do anything but watch from the other side of the room, as the hot liquid poured down onto the table and the floor and the boy stumbled.

„Careful!", his employer called out and reflexively turned to catch the boy. Unfortunately, in that exact moment, his weight had rested on his injured leg, so he twisted the already sprained ankle. Used to pain far worse than this, he didn't say anything, but couldn't help but make a small noise and flinch. Master Richard caught the expression and asked „Are you alright?", his good education stronger than his diffidence for the second.

Master Bruce put on a smile again but was caught off guard and therefore didn't react fast enough. „Yes, I just … tripped on the stairs last night." The boy looked at him, seemingly not quite believing the hurried answer. But he just nodded and moved to finally put the pot on the table, before he realised he had dropped it. The coffee drenched the floor, the tablecloth and the newspaper lying on top of it. The boy looked at the mess for a long moment and then jerked back…

„I'm sorry", he whispered, almost tears in his eyes.

„It's alright, no harm done", Master Bruce hurried to reassure him, as Alfred moved to clean up. But the boy drew back into himself and stayed silent for the rest of the morning. Neither of the men managed to get another word out of him.

* * *

Over the next few days, Master Richard became even more silent than he had been at the beginning, not even talking to Alfred anymore unless absolutely necessary. Sometimes he vanished for hours on end, the butler occasionally not able to find him, which meant quite something as he knew about every hiding place in the manor.

Master Bruce and Alfred got more worried every day as nothing seemed to be able to draw Richard back to them. To make everything even worse, the boy's nightmares got more intense, some evenings it took several minutes to wake him.

Five days after the incident, it was especially bad. When Master Bruce had entered the boy's bedroom, Alfred had been busy at the other end of the hallway. But when the cries wouldn't stop, he went to see if he could help.

Standing in the doorframe once more, he looked at the by now familiar picture. Master Bruce kneeling on the floor beneath the window next to his ward, shaking him softly. But Master Richard didn't react. He thrashed around in his guardians grip, tears streaking down his face and he was begging.

„No, please, don't! They didn't do anything, please! MUM! DAD! No! Leave them alone, please!"

„Richard, wake up! You have to wake up. Come on, boy!" Master Bruce had raised his voice and slightly intensified the shaking. Slowly, the child in his arms calmed down and eventually opened his eyes, only to close them again within the second. He pulled back from his guardian and buried his head in his blanket, face turned towards the wall.

Master Bruce looked helpless at the small figure, one hand still laying on the child's shoulder.

„God, I wish I could help you! Please, Richard, talk to me." But he didn't get an answer, so he stood up and walked towards his butler. Out in the hallway again, the two men looked at each other, deep concern written on their faces.

„What did he mean by saying, ‚Leave them alone'?", Alfred asked.

„I have no idea", Master Bruce replied, frowning. He stood there, next to the door, thinking hard. „Unless… But that can't be." He looked at his butler. „Do you remember what the headline read, over which Richard poured the coffee?" Now Alfred was the one thinking. He had thrown it away, the copy hadn't been readable anymore. He could only recall a picture of some policemen underneath the text. The butler shook his head.

„It was about an ongoing investigation on racketeering here in Gotham. I read it later that day at the office because it could have held important information for Batman. But it only said, the officers couldn't get their hands on anything specific, other than some cases of weird accidents. I decided to keep it in mind, but ever since had other things to take care of, at night, since some patients made their way out of Arkham, again." The butler began to understand. „What if the death of Richard's parents wasn't an accident after all. What if someone tried to press protection money from the circus, but the director refused to pay and Richard somehow heard about it." Alfred followed the train of thought and nodded in agreement. It made sense and would explain the last few days.

„But why did Richard only react now?" Master Bruce wondered. „At first he was only traumatised by his loss, not by why it had happened."

„I assume that is just it, sir." Alfred spoke up. „He was in shock and completely suppressed all other relating memories. It would have been too much for him to bear. But reading the headline woke the memory again and now he is thrown back into the state he was first in."

His employer's eyes turned into steel. „Well, at least now I know what to investigate next." And with that, the World's Greatest Detective turned on the spot and walked towards the batcave.

* * *

The next evening came and it was heavily raining again. Master Bruce, who had been back late the night before but without any success to show, decided to go on patrol early.

„Maybe the rain spares him the nightmares, and if he does have them anyway, I trust you to wake him, Alfred. My time is, in this case, better spent out there in the attempt to solve his parent's murder." Because that it had been a crime rather than an accident, was nearly confirmed. On further investigation it had become obvious that there had been quite a few cases of racketeering on showmen, so it was most likely the same here.

When his employer had left, Alfred made sure he stayed close to Master Richard's bedroom so he would hear him if necessary. But the hours passed and everything stayed silent, so around one in the morning, the butler decided it was safe to go to bed.

But when he went to check on the boy, he got the feeling, there was something off. He carefully opened the door to the bedroom. The window was open as expected but the sheets were neatly arranged on the bed rather than laying on the floor.

Alfred's heart seemed to miss a beat before speeding up. Where was the boy?

„Master Richard?" he asked into the empty room but got no response. He turned for the hallway and quickly searched the corridor and every adjacent room. No sign of him.

Although he would never do it out loud, Alfred internally swore. How could this have happened? And where did the boy go? Not to ask why he did it in the first place…

„Master Richard!" He went through the whole house, calling for the boy. With every empty room he came across, his suspicion solidified. The child had left the building, probably even the grounds.

At some point, he even checked the batcave. Who knew, maybe the boy had found it when he was exploring the manor. But no, he wasn't down there either.

As soon as Alfred was sure the boy was gone, he tried to contact Master Bruce, but his employer didn't react to his comms. This happened sometimes, for instance when he was in a situation that required utter silence or concentration, but at the moment it was quite inconvenient.

The butler didn't know what to do next, nothing that happened often and he certainly didn't like it. He couldn't reach Master Bruce and so wasn't able to decide on further measures. In the end, he kept searching the house over and over again, constantly trying to call his employer.

When the intercom rang and hour later, he was desperate.

„Could you please come down to the batcave? I'll be there in a few minutes." The dark voice of the Batman sounded slightly distorted through the device.

Not sure what to feel, the butler responded. „Certainly, sir."

As he was on his way down there, his mind kept coming up with explanations for the new situation. Possibility number one, it had nothing to do with Richard, Master Bruce simply had found out something and wanted to tell the butler and did it down there, because he knew the older man liked to keep everything Batman-related out of the house. Possibility number two, he was injured and needed help. Alfred's least favourite. Possibility number three, he had accidentally found the boy. The butler didn't know what to think of that alternative. It meant, Master Richard was safe, but also, that he probably knew by now about his guardians secret identity. Which was, what both men had hoped to prevent most.

The grandfatherclock in the study opened as he turned it's hands and he made his way down the dark staircase. When he reached the bottom, he scanned the room with his eyes but no one was there. He walked over to where the Batmobile was usually parked and stood next to the wall. His dark suit made him nearly invisible in front of the black stone.

It was a matter of seconds until the hidden entrance opened and the huge vehicle entered. Batman got out and immediately walked over to the other side where a small figure emerged from the car-like construction. Alfred sighed in relief, at least the boy was safe. And in addition he seemed to be unharmed. But what was he wearing? It took the butler a second to realize, it was the boy's old costume – a red leotard with short green sleeves. Why had he put that on, instead of normal clothing? It was rainy and cold outside after all, as proven by the wet look of both Master

Bruce and Master Richard. Alfred shook his head to himself. There were more pressing matters right now. For instance that there was no way of keeping the secret from the boy any longer.

The butler decided to stay in the shadows until he was addressed, not wanting to interfere with Master Bruce's plans on how to tell his ward the truth.

Before the boy could say anything, Batman kneeled down in front of him, putting them face to face. He laid his hands on Master Richard's shoulders, who looked confused but fearless back at him.

„Richard, do you know where you are?" The deep voice of Batman echoed through the cave.

The boy looked even more confused at the question. „Your home", he guessed.

„Well, yes, in a way. And do you know who I am?"

„The Batman."

„No, I mean, who I really am, beneath the cowl."

The boy shook his head and the man sighed.

„Alright. I'm going to show you. Please stay calm, okay?"

The butler couldn't help but pity the boy. The whole scene seemed to frighten him a bit. And what was to come next would certainly be a shock for him.

The Batman slowly lifted his hands to his head and pulled the mask off. The boy took a step back.

„You… You're Batman. But… No, that can't be." He obviously was quite upset.

Master Bruce reached out to touch the boy calmingly, but he took another step back.

„But you were there. You were there! You could have saved them!" His voice grew louder with every word and his eyes started to glisten with tears.

Now it was the man who seemed shocked, obviously this was not the reaction he had thought he would get. „No, I couldn't. I'm sorry, Richard!"

The soothing tone did nothing to help the boy. „But you are Batman! You could have saved them! It's your job to save people!", he shouted at his guardian.

„There was no time, Richard." Master Bruce said sadly. „You saw it. Everything happened so fast, no one could have done anything." Alfred knew, this was only half of the truth. Even if there had been time, Master Bruce couldn't have done anything without revealing himself. But the boy would never understand that.

The tears in the boy's eyes spilled over and he turned away, hiding his face. His shoulders shook with the silent sobs. Master Bruce tried again to reach him.

„Richard, look at me, please." But the boy shook his hand off and took a few steps away from him. Master Bruce looked around the cave, helplessly searching for his butler. Alfred stepped out of the shadows and his employer's eyes settled on him, asking what to do. But the butler knew, this was not his fight. He silently shook his head and moved towards the staircase, but Master Bruce signalled him to wait. His lips formed the word ‚Stay'. Alfred wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but stepped back into his hiding place, observing the scene.

Master Bruce walked around the boy to be able to look at him, but Master Richard heard the movement and turned away again, which caused the man to stop. In the end, he just waited. Stood there, motionless, and waited. Eventually, the boy's breathing evened and he wiped his face with his sleeve.

He turned around to face his guardian. „You couldn't have done anything?" he asked, still a quiver in his voice.

„No." The man spoke with compassion. „No one could have saved them. I'm sorry, Richard, I truly am!" And Alfred knew, how honest that was. Master Bruce had experienced what it felt like to lose one's parents and he would do anything to spare someone else that pain.

„It's so unfair", the boy suddenly burst out. „They didn't do anything and they got killed. Why do good people die? Why don't only the bad people die?"

„I don't know. It would feel better, wouldn't it?" The man's voice was soft. „Richard, can I ask you something?" The boy nodded.

„You said, your parents were killed. Why?"

„Because they were! I know it! I heard that man talk to Uncle Haly."

„Uncle Haly? The ringmaster?" Another nod. „And what man?"

„The big man with the black hair. He said, he wanted money from Uncle Haly and when Uncle Haly said he wouldn't pay, the man said, an accident would happen."

Master Bruce frowned. So his suspicions had been right. It _was_ a case of racketeering. „When was that?" he asked.

„On that day."

„And did you tell anybody?"

The boy drooped. „No one listened. I tried to tell the police but they just didn't listen!" He clenched his fists, obviously frustrated. „No one believed me so I had to try and find him myself!" _He misses the fact that he himself has suppressed the memory until_ now, Alfred thought. But probably that didn't matter to the boy as long as he found the man responsible for his suffering.

„I believe you", Master Bruce simply said. This answer earned the man a hopeful look from the boy. „I do believe you and I will make sure to find the man and get justice for what he did. Promise. But you will stay here!" The boy started to protest, but his guardian interrupted him before he could even get the first syllable out.

„That's not up for discussion. You will stay here, it's dangerous out there. It's no job for a kid. You could get yourself killed. These men are armed and prepared to do everything to protect themselves. Don't think I would put you under that much risk!" His tone was final, but the boy didn't give up that easily. He straightened his back and rose his chin.

„But I want to come! And I'm not just some stupid child. I can jump and climb and throw knives. And I'm really fast! I learned that at the circus."

„I know you're a great acrobat", Master Bruce said. „But that doesn't make you a vigilante. And besides, you're eight years old, so you _are_ a child."

„Nearly nine", the boy pouted. „And I will come, if you like it or not."

Master Bruce threw his hands up in frustration. „No, you will not!"

The boy looked at him calmly. „You can't stop me. I will just keep running away as I did tonight."

The man considered this. Alfred knew, the boy had a point. With his abilities, locked doors and closed windows weren't of much use.

After a minute of silence during which Master Richard glared at his guardian and the man stared into nothingness, apparently thinking hard, Master Bruce made a decision.

„Alright." Alfred looked at him in shock. Alright? He couldn't really consider taking the boy with him, could he? He knew, his employer sometimes made unusual decisions, becoming the Dark Knight being one of them, but this… This was irresponsible. Madness even.

„I will take you with me, BUT", he raised one hand to stop him, when the boy started to cheer. „I will train you, first. You will get lessons in climbing, fighting and using some equipment, before I'll allow you to come. And I am the one deciding when you're ready, so don't even try to beg!" Alfred didn't want to believe what he was hearing. Master Bruce wanted to take the boy with him. Out there, on the streets, at night. To fight a villain. This realisation was enough to make him forget his manners. He suddenly stepped out of the shadows and walked straight up towards his employer.

„I feel I must object, Master Bruce." He tried to keep at least his voice polite, only partly succeeding. „You can't take the boy with you. As much as I do understand why you want to come, Master Richard,", he added, turning to said boy, "the rooftops of Gotham are no place for a child." He turned back to his employer who stood there, arms crossed and a stoic look on his face. „Sir, you yourself got injured so many times, can you really take the responsibility for putting a child in the same danger?"

„Don't think I'm not aware of the risks, Alfred. But it's my only choice", the other man answered. „Richard is right, we can't stop him from running away again and I much rather have him at my side where I can keep an eye out for him than him running around the city on his own." The butler could see the troubled look in the younger man's face but that didn't help him calm down. He didn't often disagree with his employer, but over this, they wouldn't have fought their last argument, he was sure.

„Don't expect me to support this madness", he said indignantly and stalked off.

 _So now Richard knows and Alfred isn't at all happy with the revelation. I do understand him!_

 _I have to admit, this scene wasn't exactly easy to write, it took me two attempts... Hope you liked it! Please tell me, whether or not :-)_


	6. Chapter 6

_This is a rather short chapter, sorry for that, but the cut I made was the only possibility that made sense... Next one will be longer, promise!  
But I think, there's a scene in this one, which some of you were waiting for. Hope you're happy with my version of it!_

Over the next few days, Alfred found it rather difficult, not to let his emotions show but to keep the façade of the perfect butler up. He had said his part and was determined not to speak up again. After all, Master Bruce was the boy's guardian so his safety was his concern.

It was Wednesday evening, half a week after the incident in the cave, that his employer came to him, in an attempt to talk. The butler was standing in the kitchen, preparing a soup for dinner, when suddenly a voice came from the doorway.

„Alfred." He turned to face the other man

„Sir?"

Master Bruce sighed. „You're not at all happy with me, are you?"

„I'd prefer not to answer that question." The butler's voice was rather sharp, considering his usually unchanged air of calmness.

The other man took a few steps into the room and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding the table. He looked tense and wary.

"I know you don't approve, Alfred. And I understand your reasons. In fact, I do think so myself, but as I said, I don't see I have much of a choice." He fixed his eyes on the wooden surface in front of him.

"I find it difficult to believe that a child can overpower you in your decisions, Master Bruce", the butler replied coldly.

The younger man lifted his eyes again and looked at his opponent. "You should have seen him out there, when I found him on the streets looking for his parent's murderer. He was so determined, it was almost scary, considering he's only eight years old. I'm convinced, he will run away again, no matter what we do to prevent it. After all, he is a trapeze artist, which makes ways possible to him that others can't even dream of. He will always find a way out of here and if he does, I won't be able to look after him. He will run around and encounter unspeakable dangers. I just think it is wiser to give him the opportunity to come. That way, he's better prepared, I can have an eye on him and he won't do anything more risky than necessary."

The butler nearly snorted. "More risky than necessary? Master Bruce, he's only a boy, a child really. There are very few things riskier than taking him out on the hunt for a criminal. That is no work for someone his age."

"I know, Alfred, I know. But I don't see what else I could do. And he seems so much better since we made the agreement."

That, the butler couldn't argue with. The morning after Master Bruce had brought his ward home in the middle of the night, both men had been in the kitchen, in silence waiting for the boy to turn up. They hadn't wanted to wake him since he had only gone to bed around three in the morning. All of a sudden, there had been the sound of a door banging and running footsteps coming towards them. Both had looked up in surprise. Until then, his screams due to nightmares had been the only loud noise, Master Richard had made around them.

After a few seconds, the boy had barged through the kitchen door, stopped dead and looked at his guardian, eyes wide.

"You're the Batman! I didn't dream it, did I?"

Master Bruce had grimaced while Alfred turned away, trying to keep himself out of this.

"Yes, I am", he had heard the cautious voice of his employer followed by a jubilant "Great!" from the boy.

From then on, Master Richard's will to communicate had improved steadily. At first, he had answered questions in whole sentences, then started asking some himself and finally, hesitantly, begun to talk on his own, making comments and once or twice even mentioning his old life and family.

Both the butler and his employer had silently agreed on how pleased they were to see the boy slowly recover from the trauma, although Alfred nevertheless thought the reason behind the improvement to be a big mistake.

It hadn't taken so much as a day before Master Richard started asking when his lessons would start. It had been during dinner, so Alfred had had no choice but to listen, when his employer first tried again to talk the boy out of it and, when he realized there was no point, reluctantly started to make plans.

The evening after that, Master Bruce had been home even earlier than the weeks before, something the butler wouldn't have thought possible, and gone with the boy down to the batcave. Alfred could only assume, he had been showing his ward everything, including the gym. He hadn't asked.

From then on, the two had spent every evening down there, only surfacing for dinner under Alfred's disapproving glances. But as much as he disliked it, the butler had had to admit that the boy seemed better by the hour. Not only was he talking, but some colour returned into his former pale complexion and he started acting his age. No corner of the house was safe from his curious rummaging any more and he started doing acrobatics wherever he went. It took the old butler quite a while to get used to it. He tried to tell the boy to stop swinging from chandeliers and sliding down banisters, but it showed little to no effect so he gave up eventually. In the end, he reasoned with himself, it was better if the boy did what he liked so much and was happy, than he behaved properly but felt restrained in his welfare. Plus, he grudgingly admitted to himself, it _was_ some kind of natural training. And since he couldn't do anything to stop the insane plan the two younger occupants of the house had drawn up, he at least wanted the boy to be prepared as good as possible.

One evening, when Master Bruce and Master Richard had come up for dinner, the boy glowing from the training session they had just had, the butler couldn't help but marvel at how much the perspective of doing something about his parent's death had helped the boy recover.

But none of the positive aspects could make Alfred change his fundamental belief that letting the boy come out there to fight a villain was more than just a bad idea but a huge mistake. So he kept being stoic.

"Master Bruce", he said to the man sitting at the table, "you know my opinion on the topic and since neither of us is willing to change their mind, I deem it best if we end this conversation before it starts." The other man looked at him sadly but didn't press on the matter.

* * *

Another three days later, Master Richard seemed unusual silent again during dinner. Halfway through the meal, Alfred looked at him in concern.

"Is something the matter, young sir?" The boy lifted his eyes from his plate and slowly shook his head.

"No, I was just ... I was thinking, that's all."

"Something important?", asked Master Bruce.

He earned a shrug. "No, not really."

The men shared a glance but neither said anything. They had long before learned that Master Richard would speak up on his own or not at all. Trying to force him didn't work, he was too stubborn for that.

The meal went on more silent than the nights before, with the boy not talking and the butler missed the chatter he had gotten used to so quickly. When they were nearly finished, Master Richard looked up again.

"Dick", he said suddenly.

He earned shocked glances for that.

"Excuse me?" Alfred said, while Master Bruce kept silent, slightly taken aback.

"It's my nickname", the boy explained. "It's what my parents called me and everyone at the circus. I thought, maybe you could call me that, too. I don't really like Richard, it's so... So long and so formal."

The younger man reacted first. "Of course we will, if you want us to."

Master Richard ... Master Dick nodded. "Please." Alfred was sure, it would take him a moment to get used to the new name, but he was determined not to slip even once, since it seemed to be important to the boy. It felt like this was his final step of opening up to his new home.

* * *

Although he was still angry at his employer, Alfred couldn't help but start to worry about him. He knew, Master Bruce was used to living on less sleep than was healthy, but it had gotten so extreme, the strain was obviously taking it's toll on the man. He got up at six o'clock every morning, ate breakfast, left for work, came home around four pm, spent the afternoon and evening with his ward in the batcave, then left for patrol and when he came home in the middle of the night, he wouldn't go straight to bed but try to solve the case of Master Dick's parent's murder. Which left him with about two or three hours of sleep at most.

The butler was worried at the sight of dark shadows under his employer's eyes and the amount of coffee he drank. But at the same time, the man seemed to be happier than in years. Obviously, the presence of the boy in the house and their shared activities lifted his spirits immensely, so Alfred didn't try to talk the man out of it. He knew, Master Bruce wanted to help the boy which included both the training and the research, so there was nothing he could do to stop him anyway.

 _Hope you liked it (as_ _I_ _usually do^^)! Please tell me, if so or if not._


	7. Chapter 7

_Nightwingsass - thanks for both reviews! And you're so damn right! A good Batman and Robin movie is all I'm waiting for! Apart from that, no, I don't celebrate it. In fact, I don't even know what it's about. Wrong country, I assume. But thanks anyway ;-)  
_ _Special welcome to Naunet42, my beta who found her way to this story on the website by accident :-) Thanks again!  
_ _I'm not entirely happy with that first scene, but oh well... It has to do.  
_ _Second to last chapter, today. Prepare for the end ;-)_

One night, nearly two months after the boy had discovered his guardian's secret identity, Master Bruce came to Alfred's quarters, waking him. The butler immediately was on high alert.

"Master Bruce, is something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine. I'm sorry to wake you, Alfred, I just didn't want to wait until morning and risk Dick overhearing us. You never know where the boy is and what he picks up", he smiled. The butler had to agree with that. More than once he had been startled to find the boy standing behind a corner, watching him. He suspected it to be an exercise in stealthily behaviour Master Bruce had assigned him.

"So what is the matter?" the old butler asked.

"Tony Zucco", the younger man said with grim satisfaction. "I found the man who manipulated the ropes on the trapeze in Haly's circus. Well, the man who ordered it to be done, to be precise."

At that, the butler straightened himself. "So now you think the time has come to take the boy out on the streets?" His voice had a hint of sharpness to it.

"I know, Alfred. You don't like the idea."

"No, indeed I do not!"

"And I do understand that.. But you should see him in training. He's a natural and he loves it. Whatever I teach him, he picks it up within minutes and he never gets tired of asking for more. He's so eager. And I promised him. I promised I would take him with me once I located his parent's murderer. You know, I can't go back on that. He would never forgive me." Alfred had to admit that was true. Was keeping the boy safe worth ruining his trust in his guardian? He was afraid, the boy would never be able to trust again, after losing his family to a criminal and the man who was to care for him afterwards lying to him. The butler nodded.

"So I wanted to ask you a favour. Not for me but for Dick", the younger man added at the sight of Alfred's slightly indignant expression. "Would you sew him a costume? The only thing flexible enough for his movements he has is his old leotard but it provides no protection, not even against scrapes. If I have to take him with me, I want him to be as safe as possible."

The butler couldn't argue with that. And he knew, he had no choice, for the exact same reason. There was no decent way of keeping the boy home so he had to do everything in his power to protect him, there was no space for pride or stubbornness on his account.

"I'll talk to him about it tomorrow", Alfred promised. His employer nodded and left the room, relief showing in his posture. The butler only hoped, the man would get some much needed sleep now and that maybe, hopefully, their differences would lessen somehow from now on. He was tired of constantly living in a weak truce.

* * *

"Master Dick, would you like to accompany me at a visit to the attic?" The boy was instantly intrigued by this question.

"The attic? Really?" he asked with sparkling eyes. Alfred could understand his excitement. He hadn't been up there yet because the door was always locked and wasn't the attic the most interesting part of a huge old house to a boy?

It was the next morning and Master Bruce had just left the house, not without giving Alfred a meaningful look before he went out the door. So the butler decided not to lose time and asked the boy to come with him to where the sewing machine and the fabric was stored. Of course the boy didn't know what awaited him. Alfred wasn't going to ruin the surprise.

When they reached the last step of the staircase leading up to the door and Alfred opened it, he smiled at the excited look on the young sir's face.

It took only a second for the boy to vanish behind the things stored up there. Loads of old furniture and boxes with photographs were put away here to collect dust. The only person ever coming up here was Alfred, when Master Bruce's uniform needed to be repaired because the vigilante had damaged it. Again.

He walked over to the corner holding the material he was looking for. There was an old but fully functional sewing machine next to a desk complete with lamp, paper and pencils. There was no way of tailoring a costume without a detailed draft. A huge wardrobe full of different fabrics stood only a few feet away.

"Master Dick", he called out. The boy instantly appeared from behind an old davenport.

"Yes?"

"I think you would like to come over here and help me with this." Curiosity sparkling in his eyes, Master Dick walked towards where the butler was standing.

"You need help with a ... sewing machine?" he asked a little sceptical, once he had identified what the old man was standing next to.

"Not with the device but with what I'm going to tailor with it."

"How can I help you with that?"

The butler smiled. "It is for you. Master Bruce asked me to make a costume for you, so you are dressed properly when you go on manhunt with him."

The boy's face lit up immediately. "I'm getting a costume? Awesome! What is it gonna look like?"

"That is for you to decide." Master Dick beamed at him.

They carried two chairs over to the desk and settled down, a large piece of paper sprawled out in front of them. Alfred picked up a pencil and looked at the boy.

"Well then, young sir, do you have any ideas?"

* * *

It took nearly three hours until the two of them were satisfied with their work. It wasn't as easy as expected, matching both Master Dick's wishes concerning the look of it and Alfred's musings respective the safety issues and the practicability.

In the end, they had quite a colourful picture drawn out. A red vest, as a tribute to his old circus costume, black trousers, a yellow utility belt, black boots, black gloves and a black cape with a yellow inside. The vest was going to be reinforced with Kevlar, Alfred had insisted on it.

"Are we going to make it now?", Master Dick asked excitedly but the butler shook his head.

"I would prefer to ask for Master Bruce's approval first. We don't want him to not like your costume, do we?"

"No", the boy was slightly disappointed. "But we'll make it as soon as he allows it, yes?"

The old man could see now, what his employer had meant by saying the boy was completely ecstatic whenever it came to anything concerning his training and the planned mission. It would be hard to make the boy stop once had sniffed the air outside. The butler partly hoped, he would get scared out there and decide, he would never want to do it again. But he knew, the chances were low.

When Master Bruce came home, his ward was already waiting for him in the entrance hall, the paper with the draft in hand, practically bouncing on his toes. The butler was standing more patiently a few steps behind him, ready to take his employers jacket as soon as the boy released him.

The door opened and Master Dick instantly ran to the man coming in.

"Bruce, look. Do you think it is good? It is good, isn't it? Tell me you like it so we can make it!"

His guardian smiled at him in surprise. "Easy, Dick, calm down. I can't even see what you have there. Let me have a look", he said and crouched in front of the boy.

"It's my costume. Alfred and I drew it today. Well, Alfred drew it, really, but I helped. And he said, you had to say yes before we could make it. So please, say you like it. It's awesome!" Apparently, the boy was still far from calming down, he was nearly shouting and still bouncing up and down.

Master Bruce smiled thankfully at the butler. Alfred realized, the younger man hadn't been quite so sure his employee really would help with the costume. He nodded in response and kept his eyes on the happy scene before him, not entirely sure what to feel. He was glad, the boy could be so obviously happy again but still, the reason behind it bothered him a lot. Why couldn't there be another way to achieve that happy look on the child's face?

In the end, Master Bruce expressed his approval which made the boy nearly burst and was allowed to get up again. When the butler came over to finally get the jacket off the man, he was rewarded with a low "Thank you, Alfred" by the younger man.

This evening, Master Dick was having difficulty on deciding what he wanted to do. Training with Bruce or tailoring with Alfred. Over the whole dinner, he kept changing his mind, until finally the butler stepped in.

"May I present the idea of splitting the time, Master Dick? You could first go down to the cave and then start working on the costume with me. I will put the time until you arrive in the attic to good use and look if we have fabric suitable to our cause."

In the end he had to wait only half an hour before the boy stormed in.

"Can we start now?" The excitement in the child's voice still hadn't lessened the tiniest bit.

"Yes, we can. First, I need to measure your body, so I know how big the costume has to be. Would you come over here and spread your arms? Yes, like this", he said, when the boy promptly stood in front of him, looking as if he tried to hug the whole room at once.

He took notes while he rounded Master Dick with the measuring tape. When he had everything he needed, he guided the boy over to the table where he had spread out fabrics in different colours and qualities.

"I thought, this black one would work well for the cape, combined with this yellow cloth over here. And would you like this red one for the vest? The pants would be best made of this", he said, indicating a black fabric. "And the shoes we are going to buy tomorrow. For the utility belt, we are going to take one of Batman's and change it so it fits your needs."

The boy nodded frantically, not able to express the amount of excitement he felt.

When the butler got to work, Master Dick looked at his doings interestedly.

"How do you know how to do this?"

Alfred smiled. "Oh, I've made Master Bruce's costume as well. So I am what you would call experienced by now."

"You made Batman's costume?" The boy looked at him in awe.

"Yes, I did. And I repair it every time he gets a tear in it, which is quite often, I can assure you", he said with a blink. Master Dick snickered.

"But before that. Where did you learn it?" So he was persistent. Well, as they were going to spent more than just a few minutes on tailoring this, Alfred decided he could very well tell the boy his story.

"Well then, Master Dick, maybe you want to sit down here next to me, because it is going to be quite a long story." The boy complied and looked at him expectantly.

"First of all, you have to know, I haven't always been a butler. I come from England."

"So that's why you sound so funny", the boy burst out, interrupting him. When the butler raised an eyebrow, Master Dick blushed. "Sorry. It's just... You speak differently, you sound differently. I didn't know why."

"Well, now you do. I only came here around thirty years ago when Master Bruce was a very small child. But later to that. First, I was in England and I did not work as a butler there. Can you guess what I did instead?"

The boy thought about it for a second but then shook his head.

"I was an actor." Alfred smiled at the surprise showing on Master Dick's face. "Yes, I was. And I liked being one. We travelled around the whole country, quite like you did, and everywhere we went, people would come to see us perform. It was a lovely time."

The boy nodded sadly. "Yes, I know. I loved it, too." He was silent for a second and the butler waited for him to come around again.

"So that's where you learned it? Tailoring costumes?"

"Yes. We all had to make our own costumes and as everyone wanted to have the best one, we put a lot of effort in them and got better and better." The butler smiled at the memory of this ever-lasting competition.

"Why did you stop being an actor?" Alfred's smile faded at the boy's question.

"My father got ill. He had gone to America when I was old enough to live alone, my mother had died years before that, so I had not had the chance to seen him often. But when I got mail of how bad his condition was, of course I travelled to his side at once. It was in this very house that I saw him for the last time. He was the butler here before me", he explained when Maser Dick made a questioning noise.

"When I talked to him, he had one request. He asked me to take over his employment and be the butler to Dr. and Mrs. Wayne. It was his dying wish, so I went to Thomas Wayne, Master Bruce's father, and applied. He gladly took me and I lived here ever since."

"Don't you miss being an actor?" The boy's eyes lay on him and they bore a look of sympathy. He seemed to know what Alfred had lost that day.

"Sometimes", the butler admitted. "But the Wayne family was really friendly and it has always been a pleasure working for them. Dr. Wayne was a really nice man and Mrs. Wayne was a lovely woman. It was devastating when they got shot. Especially for Master Bruce. He was only eight years old then, just as you are now. After the tragic incident, I took care of him and tried to give him a good life but he never was quite the same again. You may have noticed that he can be dark and brooding at times, not talking much. Before all that happened, he was a happy child."

"Why did they get shot?", Master Dick asked quietly, compassion on his face.

"Because someone wanted their wallets and thought they did not hand them over quickly enough."

"Why do all the good people get murdered for money?" The boy's rhetorical question caught the butler off guard. He hadn't seen that specific resemblance. And it made him sad that someone as young as Master Dick had lived through enough to have such thoughts.

"I don't know, young sir, I don't know", he answered sadly.

There was silence after that and the butler delved into cutting the different fabrics into shaped pieces while the boy watched him work.

Suddenly, nearly half an hour had passed and Alfred was busy with the first seams, Master Dick spoke again.

"I don't want to become dark and brooding." The butler looked at him in surprise, recognizing the phrase he had used to describe Master Bruce.

"You don't have to. It is up to you what kind of person you will turn out to be", the old man reassured him.

"But if I'm not dark and not brooding but happy, wouldn't that mean I don't miss my parents enough?" The boy sounded truly worried. He had probably thought about it a lot and waited for someone to ask.

The butler hurried to put Master Dick's mind at ease. "No, it does not, I can assure you. Don't you think your parents would like it better if you are happy than if you couldn't enjoy yourself anymore?"

The boy looked at him with eyes widened in hope. "Yes?" It was more of a question than an agreement but when the butler nodded, a cautious smile spread on the boy's face.

 _So, obviously I took the Robin costume from YJ as an example. The one he wore in the comics wouldn't have made sense because Alfred would never have let him go without pants :-D In fact, whose idea was it in the first place? No wonder, everybody makes fun of it^^_


	8. Chapter 8

_Final chapter! One last time: I hope you'll like it!  
I know, approximately 24k aren't much but to me, this story was really long, so I'm kinda sad it's over, actually. But: I have some new ideas, surprisingly even for Batman and Robin. I just hope, I'll have time to write them out and, even more important, that I'll be able to. In sakes of language they are definitely more challenging than this one... Well, fingers crossed! I really miss writing even after only a week without it..._

Alfred thought he had misheard his employer, when the man announced during the next day's breakfast, he would stay home today. This hadn't happened in the last six years, the only exception being the day when they had taken Master Dick in.

"Why?", the boy asked, sounding as surprised as the butler felt.

"Because I want to have time to plan this evening. Alfred, do you think you will be able to finish Dick's costume today?"

The butler nodded. "Certainly, sir. It should only take an hour from where I stopped yesterday." He was afraid he knew where this was heading. The costume was finished and the villain located. Tonight, Batman would take the boy with him to get justice. The butler knew, he wouldn't have a single second of peace of mind from now on until they both arrived safe home again.

"Alright then. Dick", the younger man addressed his ward, "do you think you're ready to get out tonight?"

The boy nearly burst with pride. "I'm ready? You think I'm ready? Really?"

"Only if you think so, too", the man answered, smiling slightly.

"I do!"

"Then I suggest we go down to the cave after breakfast and I will explain what I thought of for tonight." He earned an excited nod.

Alfred was most certainly not in favour of Master Bruce's actions but by now, he had given up on trying to persuade the younger man of stopping. He knew he wouldn't succeed and he knew, the boy would never forgive either one of them if his guardian broke his promise. So he just stayed silent and worriedly looked after the man and his ward when they left the kitchen.

* * *

The evening came faster than Alfred had hoped. During the whole day, he debated on whether he should stay away from the cave or watch them go. In the end, he took the costume and brought it down there, at the same time balancing a tray of food on his other arm. He had decided the occasion was special enough to once break the rules and mix up the two lives of his employer by serving dinner in the batcave.

When he came down the stairs, he saw the boy sitting on top of one of the computers while the man worked on a table next to it. They both looked up, surprised expressions on their faces.

"I thought you might like something to eat before you leave", the butler said before any of the two could make a comment on his arrival. "And I brought Master Dick's costume with me. Maybe you should try it one, young sir, so I can alter it if needed."

Instantly the boy jumped down and came running towards the butler. "Thank you, Alfred! You're the best!" Suddenly, the old man found himself encased in a hug, he barely managed to put the tray down before it clattered to the ground.

"You're welcome, Master Dick", he said, patting the boy's head. "But don't you want to try it on?"

Instantly, the boy let go and took the costume. "Of course!" And with that, he ran into the room where the Batman uniform was stored. The men could hear him mutter in joy.

Alfred walked over to where his employer was still leaning on a table.

"Master Bruce." The younger man looked up, frowning at the unusual dark tone of the butler.

"Alfred?"

"I expect you to do everything to ensure the boy's safety out there. And I mean everything. It is madness to take him with you, so at least bring him home safe again." It wasn't like him to make commands but for this once, he didn't care.

Master Bruce looked at him in surprise but nodded. "I promise, Alfred."

When he turned away again, Alfred suddenly heard him say "Dick, get down there!". But the sharp order was softened by the amused tone it was made in. The butler followed his employers gaze and saw the boy sitting on top of the huge dinosaur which stood in front of the back wall.

The two of them had been so engaged in their conversation, they hadn't heard Master Dick coming back into the cave and climbing onto the ancient reptile.

"But I like it up here", the boy retorted before doing a backflip and landing on the ground again. His new cape flapped behind him. Master Bruce shook his head in amusement while the butler tried to hide his smile. They would have a lot of fun with the boy's antics, he was sure of that.

"Well, Master Dick, does the costume meet your expectations?"

"Yes, it's great. Thanks, Alfred!"

"Come here, let me have a look at you", Master Bruce said and the boy instantly came over to him. The man ran his fingers over the fabric and tugged at the cape. "Kevlar?", he asked the butler, indicating the vest.

"Yes, sir. I assumed maybe it could come in useful."

The younger man nodded, then turned to his ward. "So, Dick, you think we should eat a little and then prepare to leave?"

* * *

One and a half hour later left Alfred worried and alone in the cave. He had stood by while Master Bruce had let his ward recite the plan for tonight and watched as the two of them left in the Batmobile. There was no way he would be leaving this exact spot until they returned.

Hours passed and the butler got more and more impatient by the minute. He tried to calm himself down, concentrating on the thoroughness Batman always showed when something concerned his second identity. He would do everything to keep the boy out of harm's way and Alfred theoretically knew that. But doing everything to prevent something from happening didn't necessarily mean that one succeeded.

Around half past eleven, the old man started walking up and down in the batcave, half an hour later he decided to return the tray with the remains of the meal to the kitchen. The second he had left the cave, he wished he hadn't. Now, he wouldn't know when they were back and if they needed help. He hurried to clean everything up and walked as fast back down again as his dignity allowed.

As soon as he entered through the grandfather clock in the study, he knew the haste had been unnecessary, there was nobody there. He returned to his old waiting spot and forced himself to keep still.

It was nearly two in the morning, when finally the hidden entrance opened again and the batmobile entered. Trying not to rush over there, Alfred slowly walked to where two figures emerged from the car. He focused on the smaller one.

The boy stood upright and showed no sign of any injury. Relief flooded over the old butler. He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to stand worry like that again.

"Did you succeed in your mission, sirs?" His voice sounded completely steady although he still felt a bit shaky.

"Yes, we did", Master Bruce answered while removing his cowl and looking over to the boy who seemed eager to tell the story himself.

Master Dick sent a questioning glance over to his guardian who nodded slightly. As soon as he had the permission, he started to talk.

"It was so cool! Using a grappling gun feels even more like flying than swinging from a trapeze does, did you know that?"

The butler shook his head and smiled. "No, I did not, Master Dick. I never tried either activity myself."

"You should, it's awesome!" At that, Alfred saw his employer looking at him, an amused expression on his face. The man knew, the butler would never do as suggested. Alfred shuddered inwardly, the thought alone!

"I'm afraid, flying is not really my area of expertise, Master Dick. I'll leave it to Master Bruce and you and keep my feet on the ground, if you don't mind."

Now he could see the younger man smile while the boy looked a bit disappointed.

"Oh well. But you do miss a lot if you don't try it!"

"If you say so, Master Dick", Alfred replied non-committal. He changed the subject before the boy could mouth more outrageous ideas. "I assume you brought Mister Zucco in?" he asked.

The boy instantly got more serious. "Yes, we did", he said with a dark tone to his voice. "He tried to run when he saw the Batman coming at him, but we were faster. I would have liked to show him who I am, just so he knew what he did and that he brought it onto himself, but I knew I couldn't do that. But I certainly would have liked", he repeated in a lower voice. After a second during which the boy stared at the floor, obviously lost in thought, he pulled himself together again.

"Batman overpowered him and I handcuffed the man", the boy continued. Alfred stared at the other man in shock. He had let his ward touch a criminal who hadn't been secured?

Master Bruce saw the gaze and made a calming gesture. "It was completely safe. If not so, I wouldn't have let him near that thug." Alfred nonetheless didn't like it. Whatever the vigilante said, no one ever knew for sure what could go wrong. The butler's only consolation was that it was over now, that Master Dick wouldn't be endangered like that again.

"Then we called the police and left when we heard them entering the building", the boy concluded. If it had been so easy, why had it taken so long? Alfred glanced at his watch to make sure his sense of time was correct. Yes, they had been gone for nearly five hours.

Master Bruce interpreted his gesture right and explained. "We spent quite a while running around Gotham. Dick enjoyed it and so I could show him some parts of the city. We kept mostly to the eastern side of Gotham." The butler knew what that meant. His employer told him he had kept the boy out of the Narrows and similar dark parts of the city. At least something.

"Yeah, it was so cool! And we came across a mugging", Master Dick blurted out. The butler raised his head in shock again. He could see in the younger man's face that he would have preferred the boy not saying anything about that particular event. "Batman stopped it, but I had to stay on the rooftop next to the alley. Someday, I will be the one helping people!" The boy's eyes glistened at the thought while Alfred was highly alarmed. Apparently exactly that had occurred what he had hoped to avoid most. He looked accusingly at his employer. What had he thought taking the boy with him in the first place? Now it would be quite difficult to get him off the idea again of becoming a vigilante himself.

The butler got even more shocked, when Master Bruce looked at him, a nearly pitying expression in his eyes and then dropped his gaze again in what seemed to be shame. Alfred had barely a second to wonder what this meant, before his employer squatted down and addressed the boy still standing in front of him.

"You know, Dick, I thought, maybe you would want to become my partner." Alfred could do nothing but stare at the scene before him in utter horror. This couldn't be happening. His employer couldn't really do this. But apparently... He did anyways.

"You would need more training and obviously you couldn't come when there's school the next day but otherwise..." The younger man never got to finish his sentence because his ward suddenly jumped forwards and hugged him. When he let go again, he beamed.

"Really? You would train me to become your partner? Really?" The boy was jumping up and down, obviously unable to calm down on his own anymore. The man put his hands on the boy's shoulders to make him focus again while the butler stood there, debating to step in and put an end to this.

"Dick, easy. Yes, I will if you want to. But there will be rules and if you disobey them, I will instantly stop training you, understood?" The boy nodded, still grinning from ear to ear. Then he seemed to think of something.

"Do I get to pick a name?" His guardian smiled at the question.

"If you have an idea."

"Robin." The boy didn't even hesitate.

"Robin?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"That's what my mum used to call me." There was a determined but slightly sad undertone to his voice.

"Alright, so Robin it is." The man glanced at his butler who was practically fuming, something really unusual for the normally so well-adjusted person.

"Dick, it's really late. Please go upstairs and prepare for bed. I'll look in on you and bring the costume back down here, okay?"

The boy nodded, obviously a bit disappointed but at the same time still thrilled at the evening's revelations. He left the cave, not without doing a somersault before he reached the stairs. Master Bruce chuckled lightly.

When the boy was gone, Alfred turned towards his employer, speechless. Before he could think of something to say, the younger man lifted a hand to signal he would talk.

"I'm sorry, Alfred. I really am", he added when the butler looked highly incredulous. "I know how you must feel about this. And I would have talked to you about it, but I knew nothing I could say would make you approve." Finally the old man got his voice back.

"So why did you do it? The danger your putting the boy in... I don't dare to even think about it!"

"It's hard to explain. I know this is no job for a child but you should have seen him. He thrived out there, he was at peace with himself and he was good at what he was doing. You can't imagine what it was like. If you had seen him, you would understand. Believe me, I wouldn't do this if I wasn't sure it was for the best."

Alfred nearly snorted. How could making a boy a vigilante being for the best? Obviously his employer could imagine what his butler was thinking and tried to calm him in order to that.

"Please, wait and see, Alfred. I'm sure the boy will be happier than ever and I guarantee you, I'll train him thoroughly and I'll do everything to keep him safe out there. Plus I will only take him with me one night a week at the most and never involve him in the cases against the true psychopaths like Joker. Nothing bad will happen."

Alfred shook his head in disbelief. "With all due respect, sir, do you really believe that? And I may not be able to prevent this madness from happening, but I sure will not support it either." With that, he turned and left, for once to upset to remember his manners.

* * *

The butler didn't even try to go to bed that night, he was too rattled from what Master Bruce had done to find the peace of mind necessary to sleep. Instead, he climbed the stairs to the attic and kept himself busy with filing through old photographs. He hadn't done that in a while and couldn't suppress a smile at one or two of the old pictures. Although he was mad at his employer, it was impossible not to be touched by the evidence of how much his parents had loved him. There were photos from his fifth birthday, when the three of them and the butler had gone to one of the parks in Gotham. The boy had tried to chase the ducks around the pond and nearly fallen in. His father had needed to run after him to prevent the boy from ending the day with soaking wet clothes. Another set of pictures documented Master Bruce's first day of school. On one of them, he stood in front of his parents beaming up at them while they smiled proudly. Alfred could remember taking the picture. It had been a wonderful day, one of the happiest he had had in this house.

Only little over a year afterwards, everything had been destroyed by some man randomly trying to mug people. In his dreams, the butler still relived that evening again. He had been in the manor while the Waynes had gone to the theatre. "Don Giovanni" by Mozart was playing and since one of the most popular opera singers of the time had had the lead, every important person in this city was expected to attend at least once. Barely two hours after the performance had started, the phone in the Manor rang. It had been Detective Gordon, telling the butler his employers had been shot and asking him to come, since their son was still with the police.

It took quite a lot to get the man worked up, but this had certainly been enough. If it hadn't been for his responsibility for Master Bruce, he would have somehow broken down. Instead, he had driven to the police department and from then on taken care of a small, traumatised boy who had been barely able to function over the next months. It hadn't been easy, but he never had so much as thought about giving the child to someone else, although it had cost him more than one fight with the youth welfare service to keep custody.

Back then, Alfred never would have imagined the boy he cared for so much would do the same thing one day. Taking in an orphaned child didn't seem like something most people would do just like that. But Master Bruce had, and it was obvious he had cared for the boy from the very first day. Even before, to be precise, considering how anxious he had been during the weeks after the incident at the circus.

The butler just couldn't understand how caring so much for Master Dick let the younger man allow for the boy to become his partner. To allow him enter a world that was more dangerous than any other line of work you could possibly occupy yourself with.

And he had seemed so sure. So completely convinced it was the right thing to do. Usually Master Bruce made the right choices, even taking the boy in had been for the best in the end, although Alfred had more than strongly doubted it in the beginning. How could he be so wrong now?

Or was he? Was there, maybe, the slight chance of this, too, being the best thing to do? No, it couldn't possibly be. The boy was barely nine, for crying out loud. But on the other hand he was a highly trained acrobat who longed to use his skills and who obviously enjoyed being with the Batman a lot. But it was dangerous. Irresponsible and insane.

Frustrated, the butler closed the box with photographs he was still holding. This whole affair was enough to drive him mad!

Checking the clock, he saw it was already half past four in the morning. Not knowing what to do until it was time to prepare breakfast, he left the attic and started wandering through the house. Eventually, he came past the bedroom corridor. He stopped and looked at the closed door leading to Master Dick's room. After a few seconds of debating with himself, the butler silently walked over there and opened it. He stepped into the darkened room and was surprised to see the boy actually lying in his bed rather than on the floor. His features were relaxed, something Alfred hadn't seen on him yet, even in the deepest sleep. This evening really had changed a lot. It seemed to have given the boy an amount of peace he probably wouldn't have acquired otherwise, not even by time passing by.

Alfred stood there, watching the sleeping child and wondered, if maybe, just maybe, it really could be for the boy's benefit to become Batman's partner. Robin.

 _So that's the end of it. Thanks so much for staying with the story until now! Every single reader and especially everyone who took the time to review means a lot to me! Maybe, hopefully, I'll upload something again, sometime in the future and maybe, just maybe, some of you will be there, too. I certainly hope so. Until then... Have a great time!_


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